Alejandro Valverde’s alcoholic recovery drinks, Enric Mas’ mid-season ‘exorcism’ and Annemiek van Vleuten’s emergency call of nature during the Tour de France Femmes are amongst some of the standout moments in the latest series of Movistar’s longrunning fly-on-the-wall documentary series, El Día Menos Pensado - ‘The Least Expected Day.’
The emotions of racing and intimate moments from the team bus and massage table
all make their return in series four, in another gripping, fly on the wall series.
Part four of the series, which consists of four episodes, was broadcast in full on Monday on the Movistar+ 'Vamos' channel, as part of a special programme filmed at the company's central headquarters in Madrid.
Previous 'The Least Expected Day’ series were subsequently broadcast internationally on Netflix and so this fourth series could also soon be seen globally. The Netflix Tour de France documentary called Tour de France: Unchained is also due for release in June, before this year's race.
Just as in the three previous parts of El Día Menos Pensado, it is the riders themselves that provide the main focus and interest.
The men's team's 2023 battle to gain enough points to remain in the WorldTour is a constant theme, while Annemiek van Vleuten's victory at the Tour de France Femmes is a highlight.
According to Spanish newspaper AS, ‘Exorcism’ was the expression used by Movistar's veteran team boss Eusebio Unzue in El Dia Menos Pensado, to describe Mas’ radical change of spirit and form during the 2022 season after a series of crashes “hurt me to the depths of my soul,” Mas said.
Mas recounts his psychological difficulties caused by the crashes, labelling them “fear and panic” and how after receiving both internal and external support from his team. He had to quit the Tour de France due to COVID-19 but managed to turn things around race-wise in the final part of the year and finished second at the Vuelta a España.
“I knew I was in form, but the team had their doubts,” Mas said.
Mas' strong rides in the first week, most notably on a rain-soaked descent on the Pico Jano stage, proved he had overcome his issues and got rid of his inner demons - or as Eusebio Unzue put it, “he’s had an exorcism’.
Valverde’s retirement year also gets a hefty percentage of coverage during the series, starting with his early season victories in Mallorca and Galicia, continuing with an emotional farewell in the Vuelta a España and culminating with a visit from Jan Ullrich, who calls him ‘the greatest’ on the morning of his last race Il Lombardia.
There is also space to recount his predilection for a couple of beers after hard race days, or as Valverde calls them ‘recovery drinks’.
"I stopped allowing myself all sorts of goodies," AS reported, Valverde as saying. "But not beer. Two beers a day. I've stopped from time time, but when I saw my performance level was the same and I didn't lose weight, I said [to myself] 'this isn't bad for me, so I'm not giving it up."
Annemiek Van Vleuten fantastic 2023 season is also another major draw in the series, with her emergency call of nature on a stage of the Tour de France Femmes.
Van Vleuten’s stomach issues during the 2023 Tour begin with a spell of severe food poisoning from eating a slice of watermelon.
Then later in the race on a stage, after radioing through the team car to communicate in no uncertain terms that she needed to go to the toilet immediately, she headed for a conveniently empty field during a stage of the Tour in the region of Champagne.
After that, fortunately, things improved dramatically, and she won the race overall. Van Vleuten took the inclusion of the episode in good humour, tweeting that she ‘loves it.’
She also thanked teammates Emma Norsgaard and Aude Biannic for their assistance in getting her back to the bunch without any serious consequences.
