Doping questions arise in new Tour de France Netflix trailer

Questions over doping and "scandals" appear in the teaser trailer for Netflix's Tour de France: Unchained, which was released on Thursday.

The second season, which follows on from last year's debut, is due to be launched on the streaming platform on June 11.

Despite there being no evidence or proof of doping during last year's race, the trailer seems to focus on apparent "scandals" that went on, along with more general footage of how tough the race is. Cycling, and the Tour de France, is no stranger to doping controversies, but it is unclear what "scandals" the trailer is speaking of.

A clip shows last year’s winner, Jonas Vingegaard, walking to his team bus while a narrator speaks of "scandal", before a second clip shows the recently retired Thibaut Pinot being asked if he thinks an unnamed rider is doping. 

The popular series is a fly-on-the-wall look behind the scenes at the world’s biggest bike race, providing insight to the highs and lows of competing in the three week Grand Tour. 

After the success of season one, camera crews were embedded with teams once more during the 2023 race. Eight teams originally granted access: Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Bora-Hansgrohe, EF Education-EasyPost, Groupama-FDJ, Ineos Grenadiers, Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal Quick-Step.

As well as Pinot, other interviewees during season two appear to be a handful of current riders and team owners as well as other figures from the sport. Tom Pidcock, Julian Alaphilippe, Fabio Jakobsen and the Soudal Quick-Step team boss, Patrick Lefevere, all feature in the trailer. 

"It can take you to the very top," says Alaphilippe in the one minute clip. "But it can also crush you," he adds. 

There are also the usual clichés of the sport being "savage", "cut-throat" and the "toughest", along with clips of crashes, and a reference to the death of Gino Mäder.

At the time of the release of series one last year, Yann le Moënner, CEO of ASO, the organiser of the Tour de France, said: "We are proud of this partnership with Netflix, France Télévisions and the Tour de France teams, which will offer fans a unique immersion behind the scenes. 

"Through a narrative approach, which is additive to the competition itself, the public will be able to discover how the Tour de France represents the ultimate challenge for the competitors ; in particular in terms of suffering, pushing their limits and team spirit. 

"This project is part of our overall ambition to make our sport more accessible and meet an even wider audience."