Senegal Surplace

Peter Winnen, who finished third in the 1983 Tour de France, is one of the big names participating in the Tour de Senegal twenty years later. The cycling veteran is a member of Equipe Senegal Mixed, a team of experienced Western and promising African riders. Accompanied by diary entries by Peter Winnen, read by himself, the documentary follows the tour from the inside and the outside, with an eye to detail. In places that the cavalcade races through, local people, watchful soldiers and enthusiastic pupils are interviewed. The conversations with the African cyclists that participate in the race make painfully clear how vast the distance is - in the literal and figurative sense - between the First and the Third World. Meanwhile, the rich Italian team wins nearly every stage and the best African racer receives a 75 euro bonus.