He emerges in time to jump on the team bus, and during the drive to start he is constantly listening into the riders’ conversations. “You’ve really got to be into your sleep patterns,” he adds. But this isn’t out of laziness, but the long hours ahead, filming through the day and editing into the tonight, and Jones values some structure to a day otherwise played out on the cuff. So what is a ‘normal’ day like for Jones on a race like the Tour de France? Breakfast may be the most important meal of day for many, but not for him.
“I wanted to show it to Whitey first, ‘cos he got emotional in the car,” Jones says. But despite his gregarious personality, Jones has a sensitivity that is fundamental when exposing the inner sanctum of the team and, despite a hectic daily schedule to get each Backstage Pass episode online, first sought the permission of White to include the footage. Part of the success of Backstage Pass has also been down to Jones’ ability to open the door to the banter that you don’t usually see. I was expecting him to start punching the air, but no… We had two rough years at the Tour, most of our hopes of a stage win had gone and it was a great moment and it shows that there is a lot that goes into this.” “The day Bling won, what really stood out was Matt White’s reaction in the car, when he started crying,” says Jones. Unsurprisingly, victories for the team create a spike in viewing figures and Michael Matthews’ win on stage ten of the Tour de France year was no exception, ending a two year drought for the squad at the Tour.īut, just as with Hayman’s Hell of the North triumph, it was the reaction of the team’s staff which really captured the public’s imagination and again showed how Backstage Pass offers a unique insight into the world of professional cycling beyond what fans see through their television screens. Then there was the infamous bus-stuck-under-under-finish-line incident at the Tour de France in 2013 and the episode which provided a unique, behind-the-scenes take on Mat Hayman’s Paris-Roubaix win this year – and what it meant to every member of the team.
Jones quickly earned that trust and Backstage Pass soon built a cult following helped by a number of episodes which went viral on social media, including the team’s version of Carley Rae Jespen’s Call Me Maybe at the 2012 Vuelta a Espana, which now has more than one million hits. It might take six months, but once I have it, I’ll hold onto that.” You guys are gonna have to trust me and that is something that I am going to have to earn.
“I got up in front of the team at the start and said that the key to this relationship is trust. With that, Jones decided he would tackle this delicate issue head-on before he started filming.
“Because the Armstrong stuff was coming out, there was a big gap in trust between journalists and the riders.” “2012 was the first year of our team but it was also a pressure cooker,” he says.
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