Tour de France culture special: A look at the good and bad of Netflix’s Unchained, plus the cycling films you definitely should see and the books you ...

From Orson Welles to Ernest Hemingway, Ben Stiller to Paul Smith, Dustin Hoffman to Samuel Beckett, the Tour de France has long had many famous fans in the world of culture and the arts.

Now the race has had the Netflix treatment with Unchained, their much-heralded series about the 2022 Tour. Enjoyable as it was, the series only showed a glimpse inside the madness, excitement and intrigue of the world's biggest bike race. 

So what about the other great cinematic and literary gems, classics and faux pas of the world's greatest bike race? This episode is a high-speed tribute to the best books and most revealing films that have been made on the culture of the Tour. 

We're not saying it's definitive, just that these are our personal favourites...

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