DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL: Saturday 2 July  9.30 pm  

HELL ON WHEELS

The Tour de France, the toughest bicycle race of all, celebrated its 100th birthday in 2003. Year after year this spectacular event fascinates millions of people worldwide. And the winner takes all.

Alongside the astonishing beauty of the French landscape and the colourful spectacle of the race, Academy Award winning filmmaker Pierre Danquart captured the apprehension, torture and fragility of the cyclists vying for honours and survival.  Bringing us remarkably close to Erik Zabel and the T-Mobile team, the documentary Hell on Wheels, screening on SBS Television on Saturday July 2 at 9.30 pm, provides a fascinating inner view of the Tour’s organisation, history and fanatical crowds.

As French journalist Serge Laget says about the Tour de France and road racing in general: “The cyclists come to the audience…cycling is the only sport that ennobles the spectators.” Hell on Wheels takes viewers inside the hotel rooms and team buses of these riders, but most importantly, inside their minds as they tackle the 2003 Tour.  Zabel in particular provides an honest appraisal of his own performance. It is his stature in this world that gives his comments and observations great weight.

Hell on Wheels shows the torture and the pain, the fear and the weaknesses of the men in the race, offering true insight and unprecedented access to the participants.  We see the tears of those who are out of the race and the joy of those who suffered but fulfilled their biggest dream: to reach the finishing line of this hardest race of all.

There is plenty of high drama.  The film captures the 2003 Tour’s defining moments; we wait with a group of Basque fans clad in orange on that dramatic stage to Luz Ardiden, standing around a small television receiver in the Pyrenees as Iban Mayo, Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich and Tyler Hamilton make their way to the top.  There is seemingly no way through the crowd, until it parts and Armstrong surges dramatically through the throng, out of the saddle and raging against the forces that threatened to derail his fifth Tour victory.  Then there is Hamilton’s spectacular solo effort on stage 16, but it’s Zabel who puts it into perspective for us, as only a Tour rider can.

The film gives a review of the genesis and history of the tour throughout its 100 years of existence, shows the gigantic organization of the tour, the fanatic crowd along the route and in front of televisions worldwide. Hell on Wheels presents an outstanding inner view of one of the world’s biggest sports events.