You both joined Team Visma | Lease a Bike this year. How did you end up here?
Tijn: "I worked as a videographer at Tour de Tietema for two years, before I started freelancing for several major sports organizations. I had thought of doing that for several years,  until I got a call from our marketing manager Jasper Saeijs. That was an opportunity I didn't want to let pass me by."
Mitchell: "I worked at a film company in Den Helder for a while, making documentaries and social media videos, among other things. A friend of mine tipped me off about a job offer at Team Visma | Lease a Bike. I read it and thought: I'll just give it a try. Then things moved quickly. It had to, because the Tour de France was about to start. On Friday I had my last working day at my previous employer and on the following Wednesday I flew to Florence for the start of the Tour."

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The two of you experienced the Tour de France from start to finish. What was the division of roles between you?
Tijn: "I had the lead in the documentary and had to keep the overview. Mitchell focused a bit more on the shorter shots for social media, but at the same time he was shooting for the documentary. In addition, Jasper Saeijs and Sander Kleikers helped us think of questions for the interviews."
Mitchell: "Our main goal was the documentary, but besides that I tried to make a clip of the start, of the departure from the hotel, the surroundings and the finish. I had to find a nice mix in that."
Tijn: "The moments we started filming were at the start, finish and the hotel. Mitchell was at the finish line every stage and I was a little further away at the bus. That's usually where the first conversations between the riders took place. At the hotel, I filmed as many team meetings and massages as possible. Those 1-on-1 conversations were often intimate and unique."
Mitchell: "They were really long days. We usually went to the start at 9am and hoped to be in bed by midnight. When you spend over three weeks shooting footage with different cameras, you can imagine how many hours of footage we had. Once back in the Netherlands, the editing work began. For the first week, Tijn worked on the storyline and I made the trailer. Then I took over and finalised the whole edit. I think it was online just under three weeks after the Tour."

The documentary has already been viewed more than half a million times. How do you explain that success?
Tijn: "The uniqueness of our documentary is that for an hour you see what happens within our team. People find that raw look behind the scenes interesting. The fact that there are already more than 570,000 views is bizarre."
Mitchell: "So far, we have had a lot of positive reactions. From colleagues and acquaintances, but also from followers on our social media channels. What we often read is that people enjoy watching our documentaries more than the Netflix series. According to them, it is more sincere, realistic and unique."
Tijn: "I always really enjoy reading what people think of it. They write a comment for a reason, so I think it's important to do something with that too. If you start looking at the statistics, you notice that only 6 per cent of all viewers come from the Netherlands and 20 per cent from America. That confirms our view that it is very important to keep it international."

What moment from the Tour has been the most memorable for you guys? 
Mitchell: "The moment we stood on top of the mountain when Jonas had won stage 11. I loved seeing the emotions that came out of that moment."
Tijn: "I often think back to the last stage in Nice. I was standing behind the podium with Jonas, the soigneur, the head of communications officer and Jonas' wife and daughter. You could see that the pressure had fallen off his shoulders. He was a lot more relaxed and was having a nice snack before going on stage."

How do you experience the connection and interaction with the riders? 
Mitchell: "They are starting to get used to us more and more. They dare to be themselves and behave as if we are not there. It obviously helps a lot that we are now the regular faces."
Tijn: "We realize that we ask quite a lot of them. Not only from the riders, but also from all staff members. In the beginning it's quite difficult, because you don't know them well yet. During a grand tour, the connection improves and you get to know everyone a lot better. The openness of all riders and staff members ensures that we can make such productions."

When people ask you what it's like to work for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, what do you say?
Mitchell: "I think it's a privilege to travel with this team. Sometimes you get a moment to realise what great things you are doing and what great places you are visiting. I already think it's a super wonderful adventure."
Tijn: "For me, the realization only comes afterwards. During the Tour you are living in the moment and you don't think about how unique it is what we get to do. It's hard work, but when you look back on it afterwards and see the end result, it's all been worth it."

What are your plans for next season?  
Tijn: "We are already forging some plans for next year. I am always quite impulsive and think: let it come. We have already achieved a lot of great things this year and I hope more will follow."
Mitchell: "For me, it's all still very new. I still have a lot to learn, so I'm especially looking forward to making even fatter productions."