Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates Starring in the Second Season of Netflix’s Unchained

Queue the drama! Team UAE Team Emirates confirmed last week that they are participating in the second season of the Netflix docuseries Tour de France Unchained. Season one of the eight-episode documentary series featured eight teams with only snippets of Pogacar because his team UAE Team Emirates opted not to participate.

However, they left the door open for future seasons, and it’s becoming a reality for the next edition of the show. In an Instagram post with the UAE Team Emirates flag hanging behind a television, Pogacar looks into the camera and gives Unchained fans what they wanted in season one.

“Hi, I’m Tadej Pogacar, and we will be on Tour de France Unchained Season 2 on Netflix.”

The post, which garnered over 65,000 likes in less than 24 hours, reflects the “Netflix effect” on this year’s Tour.

“This Netflix show has sparked my interest! I’ve watched it several times. Now I’m watching [the] Tour de France daily. New fan!” posted by one person.

To which another poster replied, “Same. My husband has been watching for years, and I watched—bored shitless because it didn’t make sense. Now I get it and am obsessed.”

However, Tour director, Thierry Gouvenou, was hesitant to credit the “Netflix effect” from the eight-part docuseries, which debuted in June, for spurring interest in the 110-year-old stage race and attracting an unprecedented number of fans, most notably along the Tour routes this year.

But he did comment that there seemed to be a different kind of fan alongside the road this year. Gouvenou, like many spectators watching on television, has noticed that the uptick in fans alongside the roads has a downside.

“This year the Tour has been exciting, and there are many, many more spectators than in other years,” Gouvenou said, according to the Guardian. “I don’t know if it’s the Netflix effect. I know the viewer wants to be with his phone, and he wants to put himself in the picture, in the Tour de France. That’s the way it is.”

Fan etiquette has been criticized throughout the Tour and is sometimes credited with altering the race’s outcome.

“It’s a slightly different crowd, one that’s a bit more festive and less respectful, that doesn’t know the etiquette of a good supporter. So it’s true that in some places, we’ve found ourselves in a bit of difficulty,” Gouvenou explained.

Gouvenou may have a bigger challenge next year if the effect persists. Viewers of Tour de France: Unchained can only hope for some behind-the-scenes sparks to conclude an epic fireworks show once the new season is released.

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