Must Watch FREE Cycling Documentaries on Youtube

Following our Lockdown List we bring you another round of cycling viewing – this time in the form of Free Cycling Documentaries on Youtube 

Graeme Obree: Athlete or Genius? (14mins)

“Obree’s story is the stuff of comic strip heroes – he designed and built a world beating bike from scrap metal for 70 pounds…” so begins this fascinating short film that sees the great man in the wind tunnel to test ‘the real advantage or otherwise of his ‘crouch’ and ‘superman’ positions, which were both subsequently banned by the UCI.’  

Rough Rider – Paul Kimmage  (1hour 25)

Rather somber and sometimes hard to watch doc following Paul Kimmage. Kimmage was vilified for years alongside David Walsh for speaking out about doping in pro cycling – the difference for Kimmage however, is he was part of the cycling fraternity before very much becoming an outsider. He speaks about naively thinking he would be lauded for exposing what he saw, when in fact what transpired was the absolute opposite. The scenes at home with his wife are particularly poignant. 

23 Days In July (50mins)

Follows Phil Anderson’s Tour de France in 1983. A fascinating look at the world of the Tour in a time when an English speaker really was a foreigner. 

Blowing up the Giro (6:38)

Froome fan or no, an 80k solo attack to win the Giro is something worth learning a bit more about. 

The Final Hour (49mins)

As there is an Obree doc in the list, we thought it apt to add one on his nemesis, Chris Boardman. This film looks at Boardman’s Eddy Merckx Hour Record attempt in 2000. 

Bernard Hinault – The Badger (1hr 27)

English narration on a great doc which gives insight into the champion from many who knew and raced with him. Plenty of interviews with the man himself make this a fascinating watch.  

De Ronde 101: Behind the Scenes (1hr 16)

A captivating account of the 101st Ronde van Vlaanderen. Re-live the most memorable Ronde in recent memory through the fervent gaze of the local Flemish fans, lining the famous cobbled farm tracks and filling the local town squares and cafes. It also brings you into the commentary booths and team cars of Bora, Quickstep and Trek, where the passion, tension and torture that accompanies perhaps greatest of all the one-day classics is on full and naked display. Incredibly atmospheric, indelibly Flemish and incontrovertibly brilliant.  Even better than that benchmark for all cycling documentaries, “A Sunday in Hell”.

Victoria Pendleton Cycling’s Golden Girl (1hour)

Following prep for the 2012 Games. Plenty of very raw moments showing the pain and sacrifice of being at this level. A bit too much Shane Sutton perhaps.

The Stars and Watercarriers (1hr 27)

A true classic, following the Giro of 1973.

A Sunday in Hell (1hr45)

No list is complete without this one.