Le Ride (2016)

Directed by: Phil Keoghan | 90 minutes | documentary, biography

The Tour de France, the pinnacle of cycling races. As heroic as it is commercial. Although the race has been somewhat beaten to death these days by the high degree of control the peloton has, there is always that tinge of romance. The accompanying media spectacle knows how to make the most of that feeling. As a result, La Grande Boucle, as the Tour is also called, stands proudly as a brand. But if you go further back in history, you will see that the heroic character of the race at that time was less focused on nostalgia and image formation. With stages of more than five hundred kilometers, without team cars and mechanics, the three-week Tour was monstrous. It is that time, 1928 to be precise, which is the subject of the documentary ‘Le Ride’.

That year, four amateur cyclists from New Zealand and Australia took part. They were the first English-speaking participants ever. Far away, in a country foreign to them, they wanted to show the world that they were more than a joke. But no matter how well prepared they were, the reality turned out to be tough. In total, the riders had to cover about 5,600 kilometers. Of the 168 riders who started, only 41 made it to the finish line. Some stages lasted more than twenty hours, with an average of 240 kilometers per day. The route led along unpaved roads, steep mountain passes and almost endless sunflower fields. The round was designed with as many dropouts as possible in mind. The last one standing would have the right to declare themselves the winner.

‘Le Ride’ provides a beautiful reconstruction of that bravado piece. Director Phil Keoghan does this not only in words and (archive) images, but also by cycling the entire Tour himself with a group of enthusiasts. With vintage, steel road bikes, at least twice as heavy as the carbon bikes that are ridden today and without gears, they try to defy the same distances as before. Leather shoes, cap on the head and water bottle on the front of the bike. Only the spare strap over the shoulder is missing.

By standing in the shoes of those old riders, the heroism of the race becomes more than visible. Keoghan and his associates face the same difficulties as the heroes of yesteryear. Their quest is even more complicated because the exact route, as driven in 1928, is no longer easy to find. Parts of the route no longer exist or have been transformed into, for cyclists, life-threatening highways. With the mountains in sight, the determination of the men, twice their age, is put to the test.

Their battle is supported by beautiful helicopter images of the area. However, cycling itself could have been portrayed more excitingly. Eight, long days of racing are reduced to half an hour of documentary. Mountains, described as murderously steep, are climbed in minutes. ‘Le Ride’ should have spent a little more time on that. As a result, this quick editing avenges the real involvement in all the suffering. Moreover, the film now and then slants dangerously towards ego-document. Fortunately, the mountains, literal tensions, arrive just in time. How it ends with the four riders from then (and the group of today) will only become known late. First you have to suffer.