Overcoming

Tour de France fans will already know the name Bjarne Riis. Having won the Tour in 1996, the big Dane had his career cut short by a crash. Before that, he was at the centre of a doping scandal, an accusation that haunts him even today in his capacity as owner-manager of the relatively new CSC team. Tómas Gislason’s Danish production offers an intriguing insight into the workings of Riis’s team before and during the 2004 Tour. With seven times winner Lance Armstrong out of the loop for 2006 and beyond, CSC’s Ivan Basso is the one most tipped to pick up the baton; here, though, the youngster’s still overshadowed by the imposing stature of the super Texan and his formidable US Postal teammates. Gislason has produced a moderately exciting behind-the-scenes document filled with pre- and mid-race shenanigans, spills aplenty and the obligatory shots of bloodied arms and legs but, disappointingly, it’s far too frenetically edited and confusingly structured to appeal to anyone other than Tour aficionados.