Interview with Geoff Proctor, American head coach cyclecross

Interview with Geoff Proctor, American head coach cyclecross

 

Geoff Proctor is coach since 2002, the last worldchampionships in Zolder. Time for an interview with the man who always laughs.

What do you expect of your team?

Geoff: With Spencer Petrov en Gage Hecht we have some junior topriders in our team. We had the finishing touch after the nationals. We hope for the best.

Katie Compton is one of the favorites at the women ?

Geoff: Yeah! She has a good ride in the worldcup in Zolder. It’ s good to see her back on the podium. Further we have riders for the top 5 in every podium. With the elite men, it is not easy to get in the top 5, but we try. (smile) But in the other category everything can happen.

How important is cyclecross in the States?

Geoff: It’ s growing. I sit on the UCI cyclecross commission and in the women racing for a hard time and the U23 category will grow up in the sport. We had the worldcup in Las Vegas and hopely there is an another world cup. You can’t build a paramide from the top down. It’s very popular in the US, but in a different way than Europe. Everyone that come to the race is also racing as well. Here, you have paying customers. Some are racing as well. But it’s really growing. It’s just the mattter finding more teams and more resources and more sponsors, you know. Cyclecross is just a familysport. The whole familiy can go to the race. The dad, the mum, the kids, they all can race. It’s still part of the same community. I really like the international cyclecross community.

 Do you know the mountainbike scene in the States?

Geoff: I am very close with my colleagues in the mountainbike. It’s an Olympic year. So they have made a selection for the Olympic team. It’s getting more specialized now. Not easy to do the both together. They are two different disciplines. Not everyone can be Pauline Ferrand-Prevot. Mountainbike is the best spectator sport. It has international potential.

Geoff, thank you very much and a lot of success for the worlds!

Interview en foto: Erik Braeken