The Race Across America is a gruelling endurance cycling event that tests its competitors to the limit. Though the course can vary, it’s always a continent-spanning west to east route, beginning in Pacific California and ending in Atlantic Maryland. But it’s not only the race’s length that’s demanding. Unlike many other road events, there are no stages, just a brutal, unyielding time-trial format.

Not many could imagine competing, but what about photographing the event as it snakes from sweltering sea level, through temperate forests and onto frozen 10,000ft mountain passes?  Bertrand Beranger, who captured some of the race’s pivotal moments with competitor Jean-Luc Perez, did just that.

“Fortunately, I like to shoot outside of my comfort zone,” Betrand laughs, “and while the sports photography I do is very different to my architectural and street photography, there are parallels.” Sport, after all, is about improvement, but so is photography, and creatives always benefit from new experiences and learning new skills.

So, with events like Race Across America taking place across many days and environments, it’s the perfect place to bring a range of techniques to bear. “It’s certainly a situation where I’d say sport, documentary and landscape photography can mix, and it was important to me to shoot what I felt was a complete story of the event, giving it more context than a purely sporting approach allowed.”

“In fact, if I was doing just photos of the bike – whilst I don't think it would be boring – it’s the extra context, the bigger view that really excites me. That could be framing Jean-Luc in some of these stunning environments, and making sure to shoot with a deeper depth-of-field than you’d often find in sports images to show the landscape or getting even closer and seeing the effect on his body and mind.”

This travelogue approach is perfectly shown in Bertrand’s images of Jean-Luc in his brief moments of rest and recovery. “These shots are candid and meaningful. He’s doing heroic things on the road, and moments like this are the reality. To understand it all, you can’t only see beautiful telephoto shots of him riding in front of a blurred background. You need to see what comes after – the crying and yelling, the stress in the face of relentless pursuit.”

Taken with his Sony Alpha 1 and FE 24mm f/1.4, “shots like this are why I love to use wide angle lenses for sports and documentary, because often the closer you are the more emotion and context you can feel,” Bertrand explains. “With its eye-tracking AF, the Alpha 1 does an amazing job in situations like this, and combined with its high ISO performance and lenses, you can pretty much shoot in the dark. Adaptable and fast, just as needed at the roadside, the FE 16-35mm f/2.8 is also hugely important for me.”

When using longer lenses like the FE 70-200mm f/2.8, Bertrand still likes to bring the reality of racing through images showing the full context of endurance racing. “This is competition on the open road, and they don’t close highways just for racing. There’s danger from trucks, pollution and roads that aren’t really made for cyclists. I wanted to pack all of that into a landscape scene, which meant getting ahead in the media car, and waiting until almost the last minute to get out into the road for a shot straight down the lane.”

“If ever there was a camera built for a project like this, it’s the Sony Alpha 1” says Bertrand. “Whereas before I might have needed to use both an Alpha 9 and an Alpha 7R IV to mix sports, documentary and landscape, this can do it all. And it’s such a small, light body for the power it brings.”

“Those powerful features include the Alpha 1’s stacked sensor, silent shutter and frame rate, all of which are important in mixing techniques as I do. I need the black-out free, high-frame rate for action and when you’re getting only a couple of minutes to shoot before moving on, the more frames and resolution the better.”

“Looking back, this might well be one of the projects where I learned the most, both personally and professionally,” Bertrand finishes. “Of course, it’s nothing compared to what athletes like Jean-Luc go through, but as a photographer it’s an incredibly demanding environment – constantly rushing, hardly sleeping, and still trying to be exacting and creative. I think without a tool like the Sony Alpha 1, it might be close to impossible.”

“But most of all, I think photographing this guy who is doing superhero stuff was totally inspiring. It’s changed my vision of human capability, and I think that if I have energy and commitment that’s even a little bit similar, it can motivate me to be better.”