Tour de France Unchained: Season 3 review

The series begins with a classic sensationalised David versus Goliath narrative, contrasting smaller French teams in their fight against financial difficulty against the cycling powerhouses such as UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Visma | Lease a Bike and Red Bull–Bora – Hansgrohe. Episode one then tails and spotlights Arkéa-B&B Hotels rider Kévin Vauquelin's unexpected success on stage 2 of the 2024 Tour de France, along with reaction from Romain Bardet's emotional, yellow jersey winning attack with Team Picnic PostNL teammate, Frank van den Broek.

The early episodes establish clear storylines. Episode two delves into Remco Evenepoel's background with a deep dive on his football background and career at RSC Anderlecht before turning to cycling. EF Education-EasyPost boss Jonathan Vaughters describing him as "a perfectly cut missile that cuts through the wind." Sports commentator, Orla Chennaoui adds that "in Belgium he is like the second messiah," highlighting the immense pressure that is laid upon the ‘aero bullet.’

Primož Roglič makes his ambitions clear for the 2024 Tour, stating "It’s no secret I want to win the Tour de France," while former Soudal Quick-Step C.E.O. Patrick Lefevere explains the team's strategic challenges when it comes to wanting to achieve: "We have to sacrifice a lot of other riders to go for the GC."

Episode three, titled "Adapt or Die," examines the financial realities of modern cycling and the pressures which in turn come through the sponsors to get results. This is well portrayed through Decathlon AG2R's dual objectives of GC contention with Felix Gall, whilst also aiming to achieve strong results in the sprints with Sam Bennett. Gall's vulnerability shows through when he admits, "I was struggling I felt like I couldn't do it anymore," after dropping out of the top ten in the general classification.

The controversial gravel stage forms the backdrop for episode four, with Tom Pidcock confessing, "I get a big kick out of gravel." Team TotalEnergies' Anthony Turgis becomes the focus as he targets victory on this treacherous terrain. The night before, Visma | Lease a Bike’s Assistant Sports Director, Grischa Niermann, reveals their cautious approach: "Our goal is to not lose time to Pogačar." This then leads to some more dramatization through the reaction of Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar to Jonas Vingegaard not taking any pulls when the trio broke clear of the pack on the gravel stage. 

Vingegaard's miraculous comeback journey dominates episode five, connecting his horrific Itzulia Basque crash to his emotional stage 11 victory over Pogačar. The series captures the Danish champion's tearful post-stage interview and the jubilant scenes in the Visma | Lease a Bike camp.

Mark Cavendish's record-breaking 35th stage win provides the emotional core of episode six, with rival Jasper Philipsen warning, "It will not be a gift for Cavendish." The episode also explores Biniam Girmay's journey from Eritrea to European cycling, with Girmay reflecting, "I never imagined to even do 50% of what I do now."

Cavendish's triumph is captured with his poignant observation that "people live your journey with you," while Philipsen's emotional breakdown shows the human cost of competition at the elite level of sport.

Episode seven follows Richard Carapaz's quest for the King of the Mountains jersey, reflecting on his 2023 DNF at the Tour after a heavy fall onto his knee with Carapaz exclaiming that he "doesn't want to live that again." Along with this, the pressure which is on Carapaz to achieve results for the team with all of the expectations on his shoulders.

The series concludes a fairly poor ending that lacks any relative depth, merely showcasing Pogačar's victory, Cavendish's farewell, and Girmay's green jersey success without the emotional impact of earlier episodes. With it being the final season of the docuseries, the potential was there to turn this series into something bigger, but unfortunately that is no longer the case. For sure, the series is not tailored for the die-hard viewer of the sport, which again remains the case for the final season. With a lot of the unnecessary drama seen in the previous seasons still prevalent. 

So, should you watch it? We would say not necessarily, as there is nothing in there that a cycling fan would not have already seen.