Pro cycling fans, Netflix has come to our rescue in these most trying of times. That’s because on Friday 27th March, the Movistar documentary will be released.
Called ‘The Least Expected Day: Inside the Movistar Team 2019’, it provides behind the scenes footage of one cycling’s biggest, best and, at times, most comical teams from a season that saw the highs of the Giro d’Italia and the lows of the Tour de France.
Netflix’s description for the new series states: ‘Pro cycling’s Movistar Team set their sights on victory while on the road as they face challenges, controversy and internal conflict’.
Now, to us switched on cycling fans, this may seem to be something of an understatement. After all, the 2019 Movistar team was the very setup that graced us with the incompatible quartet of leaders in Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Mikel Landa and Richard Carapaz.
The short trailer brings us back to the Stage 4 of the 2019 Giro d’Italia from Orbetello to Frascati. It shows us the moment when the team car realises leader Landa has suffered a mechanical after a crash and needs a bike change.
In the meantime, we witness Ecuadorian Carapaz race off to stage victory, grasping both the leadership of the team and laying the foundation of what eventually was a Maglia Rosa-winning ride.
The documentary includes retrospective interviews, in Spanish with English subtitles, with team staff and riders as they recall moments from their season.
When Cyclist revealed details of a Movistar documentary last December, there was a lot of excitement. Primarily, we assume this was anticipation at watching how the team unravelled at the Tour de France.
Heading into the race with Quintana, Valverde and Landa all expecting to be backed as team leader, drama ensued as inner team conflict spilt onto the roadside and all three missed out on the podium.
In fact, who can forget Stage 15 when despite having Landa in the break, Movistar began to chase on the front of the peloton.
All six parts of the documentary will be released on Friday but try not to binge-watch them all at once, you are going to have plenty of time to enjoy the series in the coming weeks.