“We are the authentic ones,” says José Larraza, the creator of The less thought day, the embedded camera documentary series that narrates the adventures of the Movistar team during the cycling season. The undisguised pride of a pioneer with which he affirms it is fully justified. The series invented a genre. He opened a path, as great mountaineers do, through which many imitators have traveled later. The fourth season (four 40-minute episodes to recount the retirement of Alejandro Valverde at the age of 42, the vicissitudes, fall and resurrection of Enric Mas, the year full of victories for Annemiek van Vleuten and the team’s fight to avoid relegation from WorldTour in 2022) is broadcast on Vamos, by Movistar Plus, in a marathon session on Monday, March 27.
The first two seasons were released directly on Netflix, the streaming platform. streaming who has become a leading actress in the world of sports without having to resort to the excessive expense of buying live broadcast rights. With already established series like Drive to survive (about the Formula 1 season), Full swing (golf) or breaking point (tennis circuit), has achieved, apart from benefits and increasing the audience of the competitions that the competition broadcasts, rejuvenating the image of sports and offering a new narrative to a younger audience.
The Tour de France is the protagonist of the new Netflix series, recorded last July with the collaboration of the race and eight teams, including the Jumbo of the winner, Jonas Vingegaard, but not the UAE of Tadej Pogacar, who accepted the cameras embedded in their day to day in exchange for 50,000 euros each. It will be released before the month of June.
“The third season of The less thought day We premiered it for Spain and then it was broadcast on Netflix for the whole world and with the fourth we hope to be able to do the same. We are already negotiating with the platform”, says Rafael Fernández Alarcón, father of the idea for the documentary and head of sponsorships for Telefónica, the company that produces the series through Telefónica Broadcast Services (TBS). “We seek with her to help make cycling a better sport and the closeness of the fans, her sympathy towards our team. And we have measured the result and yes, the affection has increased”.
Netflix—230 million subscribers in 189 countries; €30 billion in annual revenue—financed the first two seasons. The following are issued without paying anything. “All production costs, which are not low, are on us,” says Fernández Alarcón. “It is, basically, branded content [contenido patrocinado]”.
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