Hell on Wheels is a phenomenal documentary filmed during the 2003 Tour de France. Directed by Pepe Danquart, the film focuses on Team Telekom, so there's a lot of star power on display throughout. Zabel, Kloden, and Vinokourov all feature prominently. Lance Armstrong is also a presence through highlights from his fifth Tour victory- his near disastrous off-road excursion being one of the most memorable.

Which isn't to imply that this film is "about" the 2003 Tour as a sporting event. It's more about the Tour as a cultural touchstone for France and the world and as a personal battle for the riders. The drama of that particular race is glimpsed, but not lingered upon.

That said, if you're interested at all in this most glorious sporting event, then this documentary is for you. The beauty of France, the intensity of the competition, the insane daily grind and the pain are all laid out in an honest, fascinating manner. Mixing the personal (the interviews with Zabel and Rolf Aldag are especially nice) and the public (plenty of great race footage,) Hell on Wheels is a definitive look at the Tour de France from the perspective of a professional rider.

For full disclosure's sake, I am a bike racing nerd. YMMV.

This is by no means an exhaustive retrospective. There are plenty of riders and/or events I left out. I basically touched on the guys that made me sit up and take notice for one reason or another over the course of the year.

Riders

Alberto Contador

Is there any doubt he's the best rider of his generation?

The one fear I have about him is that he's going to turn into Lance II and only focus on the Tour. Maybe that was Johan Bruyneel's influence this year? I don't know. I'm just hoping he rides some other races. I especially hope he continues to attend the the Giro and La Vuelta (doing a double with the Tour and one of those races would be great), but I'd love to see him actually race at the Worlds (on a course like this years, for example) or take a shot at one of the "climby" classics.

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As you may have heard, Lance Armstrong is auctioning off the custom art bikes he rode during his comeback year. I've got the art/cycling thing going on myself (in case you didn't notice) so I thought I'd take a look and rank the bikes in order of preference.

Check 'em out and let me know which is your favorite in the comments.

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Breakfast With le Tour #10 from rob larsen on Vimeo.

Breakfast with the tour #9 from rob larsen on Vimeo.

Not my best effort production-wise. I was tired (still am!)