Two key elements are required if a sports documentary is to connect with audiences beyond the existing fans: a likable central character who has battled seemingly insurmountable odds to achieve success and a nail-biting final act. The Last Rider, Alex Holmes’s account of American cyclist Greg LeMond’s incredible triumph in the 1989 Tour de France, contains both. LeMond had previously won the gruelling race, in 1986, so he wasn’t a complete outsider. However, he had nearly lost his life in a shooting accident in 1987 and been written off as a serious contender in the race. It’s a conventional documentary, but a quality one. Spectacular archive footage from the event captures an inescapable sense of excitement – infectious, even to cycling agnostics in the audience – and interviews with LeMond and his wife, Kathy, are unexpectedly affecting.
