Racing in the time of the Super-Teams

Racing in the time of the Super-Teams showcases the best writing from La Course en Tête's website about the 2021 racing season. In only its second year of publication there has (once again) been plenty to cover, a task undertaken by several respected writers.

La Course en Tête is a website where the 'goal is to comment on what's going on in the two-wheeled world in the most authoritative manner we can, interpreting and celebrating what we firmly believe is the most spectacular, demanding and fun sport on the planet'.

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Every few days a short article will appear about whatever is topical in the world of cycle racing, often with an unusual perspective, and it is a site that I enjoy and visit regularly. I have never understood how it is funded, because there is no advertising – which is increasingly unusual for any free-to-view website. Not complaining, just hoping that it is sustainable! Perhaps the small number of 'business partners' are assisting?

This book is a selection of the best contributions to the website from across the year in a print format, plus a few extra articles to make things more complete and coherent.

In some ways it is like The Cycling Anthology books, being a miscellany of articles from a variety of writers. However, whereas the Anthology's chapters often ran to 40 pages, with Racing in the time of the Super-Teams they are typically a tenth of that; at this point one might worry about attention spans and the audience that La Course en Tête is seeking – but although shorter, there is no less substance to the articles.

That shouldn't be a surprise given the calibre of contributor, with most having a long history of journalism in the sport – and a few books to their name, many of which we have reviewed. Editor Will Fotheringham wrote about Beryl Burton recently, Peter Cossins about the Pyrenees, and Jeremy Whittle helped Jonathan Vaughters.

In fact, those three also contributed to at least one of the Anthology volumes, and I suspect they will attract a fairly similar audience here.

There are a few pictures, but they are nothing to get excited about. While they are big, colourful, and relevant, with only nine of them they are never going to be the main attraction. However, it is worth looking around the SWPix.com website, which is the agency that supplied the pictures, but be warned – you could spend a lot of time looking back at a season of snaps.

This is the second review of a road racing season from La Course en Tête, and the title is a reference to the increasing prevalence of all-powerful squads.

There is a chapter from Fotheringham exploring the phenomenon of super-teams (both men's and women's), exploring the positives and negatives of such a concentration of strength, and the feasibility (and indeed desirability) of trying to control such a thing. I appreciate that part of my enjoyment may be a result of this being one of the all-new pieces of writing rather than something I had already read during the year, but for me it was one of the highlights of the book.

That chapter hasn't appeared on the website, so it looks as though the only way to read such new material is in the book. It's a bit like producing a 'greatest hits' album, but including one or two previously unreleased tracks that won't be available elsewhere.

The first volume appeared last year, and was called Racing in the time of Covid Obviously, Covid was still present this year, it's just that it didn't disrupt racing to the same extent – just as super-teams were around last year, but perhaps not to quite the same degree. It launched a format that continues into this year, providing a different type of year-end review to The Road Book.

Verdict

The return of La Course en Tête's review of the year, providing a condensed narrative of the 2021 racing season