Ecological intensification is a way to address key agricultural challenges of the 21st century including adaptation to climate change, feeding the growing population, and reducing depletion of natural resources. As an example, relay-cropping (RC) allows to harvest two crops within the same year thereby increasing land use efficiency. Compared to sequential double cropping, sowing soybean into standing wheat allows for earlier establishment in the growing season and drought escape [1, 2]. Twenty-one soybean cultivars (MGs 000 to II) were sown on 6 May 2021 into a very early and short-straw wheat cultivar (harvested on July 6) in South-West France (43.53°N, 1.48°E). Both crops were irrigated. Soybean biomass was sampled at R1, R5, R8 growth stages and canopy cover was monitored with hand-held and mobile sensors. The radiation available for soybean in RC was compared to a sole soybean crop. Soybean cultivars were harvested between 29 Sep (00-000) and 12 Oct 2021 (other MGs). The interspecific competition in RC decreased soybean’s number of vegetative nodes, total biomass and leaf area but increased specific leaf area. The best adapted cultivars to RC exhibited a faster recovery capacity, resulting in a higher aboveground biomass and leaf area at the end of vegetative growth. Grain yield ranged from 1.1 t/ha (MG 000) to 3.1 t/ha (MG II), consistently with the biomass production. In general, late-maturing cultivars resulted in highest yields due to longer crop duration and superior recovery capacities.