Le Velo De Ghislain Lambert (2001) Reviews

One man's slow climb up the ladder to modest success is thwarted at every rung in this lightly downbeat comedy-drama. Ghislain Lambert (Benoit Poelvoorde) is a amateur bicycle racer who lives on a small farm in Belgium with his brother, Claude (Jose Garcia), and a hired hand who cannot speak, Denis (Sacha Bourdo). Lambert dreams of someday going pro, and a local coach, Focodel (Daniel Ceccaldi), agrees to help him train. With Focodel's help, Lambert is asked to join a team of pro cyclists and finds himself sharing a room on the road with Riccardo (Emmanuel Quatra), an outgoing Italian racer who urges him into a romance with cycling enthusiast Babette (Christelle Cornil) and introduces him to performance-enhancing drugs. Lambert soon butts heads with Fabrice (Jean-Baptiste Iera), the team's star rider, and while Lambert tries to show up the self-centered racer, his plan backfires when he's kicked off the team for drug use. With Claude's less-than-cordial assistance, Lambert gets back into the game and lands a lowly position with another racing team, essentially putting him back where he started. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi