Xmas Feature – Q&A with Steele Von Hoff

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The latest Q & A is with Aussie Crit champ Steele Von Hoff who goes from NFTO to One Pro in 2016

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Xmas Feature – Q&A with Steele Von Hoff

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1. With your team all sorted for 2016, what races are you looking forward to most next season at ProConti level?
Steele: I’m really looking forward to 2016! It’s always nice to start fresh, and being part of One Pro for their first year stepping up to Pro Conti and being the first British Pro Conti Team is really exciting. Having never spent any time in the British scene until this year, I really understand how important this is for British cycling and I’m proud to be apart of it.

That said, it’s so hard to tell this early what the race program looks like for next year yet as all of our biggest races will be invitations. I’m hoping we will have a better idea of our programme after the training camp and once the race organisers finalise their start lists. Fingers crossed with our strong team line up, we can get some great starts!

My favourite races when I was on Garmin were the cobbled classics. Coming from a Mountain Bike background, I handle the terrain well and I’m not just a pure sprinter so the courses suit me, as you saw at the CiCLE Classic this year…. So if we can get a few starts this is the type of racing I’d love to do more of it this year if possible.

2. What were your highlights in 2015?
Steele: The highlights of 2015 were definitely in Australia before the season even really kicked off. To be able to retain my Australian National Criterium championship for the second year in a row and then be able to take the jersey to race in Britain was very cool.

Also, one that is very hard to overlook was the biggest win of my career to date at Tour Down Under winning Stage 4. It is my favourite race of the year, racing with the Aussie crowd. You know what it’s like in Britain when the Tour of Britain or Tour de France is on your soil, it’s always special to win at home. Something that I want to be apart of again in the future.

That said my favourite British win was in Canary Wharf, the crowds for that Crit were incredible and obviously being in the centre of London in Aussie colours… It doesn’t get much better than that!

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3. What race was the most fun in 2015 and why?
Steele: It would have to be the Herald Sun Tour, also commonly referred to as the “Fun Tour”. It used to be the last race of the year for all the Pro’s, so they just made it a good laugh and it’s where the Avanti racing team (Genesys Wealth Advisors at the time) proved how good we were winning it with Nathan Haas in 2011. After dominating the National Series we turned around and beat all the Pro Teams. So it kind of feels like it’s where it all began and it’s a special race to be part of.

In the Kordamentha National Team, I was part of this year, we had a really good group of guys that made it one to remember. The final stage is 10kms from my home in Australia at the bottom of Arthurs Seat (an iconic Melbourne Climb) so all my friends and family were there. It’s the one race of the year they all get to see me ride as I obviously spend the majority of the year in Europe so it’s amazing to have them cheering me and racing next to me in costumes. I was in the break all day too … So was hurting at lot of people!

4. Tell us how you expect the races at ProConti to be different to those road races in Britain?
Steele: The first thing that comes to mind is safety LoL. I wasn’t very fond of racing with on coming traffic or the weather! Seriously though, I think the main difference will be the level of racing we will be at, as well as going back to racing Tours instead of mainly one day races in Britain.

We will be racing against bigger teams and racing tours where each member of One Pro has a real goal to achieve to try and get one rider on the top step. It’ll be good! I missed it this year. Don’t get me wrong I love crits, but it’s more rewarding to win a long hard stage or one day race against some of the best in the World. That’s what excites me and gets me out of bed each morning and through the hard training sessions.

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5. How difficult is it for a European based pro to get ready for the nationals in Oz when they are in January?
Steele: I don’t really think that’s the hard part at all! Form is easy to find in Aus when it’s summer time and you have a whole heap of bunch rides and crits to be attending in great weather! It’s the September/October races that are the ones that you start to struggle at. It can be a pretty long season if you don’t plan it out right.

I also love coming home and spending as much time in Aus as possible and I’m lucky to be able to switch between the two. It gets you motivated to jump back on the bike after a break, the weather is warm you want to be out riding. I couldn’t imagine having to do turbo sessions while it’s raining outside trying to get motivated after a break.

6. How will you spend December on the bike?
Steele: Well, despite being away most of December on a training camp back in Europe rather than home in Aus, there isn’t anything abnormal. Normally, I am away either racing in Tasmania with Avanti Racing who I enjoy going back and training with and mentoring some of the younger guys, as well as training with them on the coach Fenz’s – FTP training program in Kangaroo Valley in NSW. Or up in Bright in the Victorian High County. Normally I do 2-3 training camps over Nov/Dec so I’m barely home December normally.

But it was hard this time around to leave Aus on the first day of summer to get to Europe for their first day of winter! Lucky the One Pro training camp is down in south Spain. I’ve been doing a bit of running in my break so that’s been my cross training this season, I’m going to try and keep that up and get back to some of my Tri roots.

7. One Xmas one… if you could have any cycling related xmas present – what would it be!
Steele: Funny you ask. I’m just planning my next purchase of a 29″ MTB. But it would be nice if Santa could deliver one first!

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