To call Emily Proud an interloper would be unfair, if accurate. Overcoming a distinct lack of experience in National A criterium races, the Le Col RT rider became a fixture at the head of the National Circuit Series this summer, taking on the collective might of some of the best teams in the UK in swashbuckling style from the front. A measured but meteoric rise towards the top of the domestic scene confirmed for the 26-year-old.
Proud was one of the standout riders of the summer-long series, collecting two second places and a further top ten out of the four races she entered, including a magnificent performance in her hometown of Guildford, one which she rates as the best of her short career. “I dropped my chain twice on the first lap and was dead last crossing the line. Somehow, I crawled my way back round!” she recalls, downplaying the sheer power on display that night, where she finished an eventual second.
Proud at the 2023 Guildford Town Centre Races. Image: Ian Wrightson x The British Continental
The Guildford round would prove a catalyst for Proud, who would go on to race with confidence, commanding the front of the race to sprint to second place a week later in Dudley against a stellar field, then backing it up with a confident sixth place at the final round in Newark; her place among the leading talent on the roads of the UK undeniable.
“I’d have loved to have won,” says Proud when asked if there was a hint of disappointment at coming so close to a National A win. “It would have been nice to take a first place in a National Series, but it was my first year doing the National Circuit Series so I was quite happy to take two second places away from it.”
A powerful rider with a big engine, Proud’s strong sprint at the end of a tough race provides her with an enviable asset. “I like to think I’m a sprinter, certainly not a climber. I always get dropped up Edge Hill (Banbury)!” she chuckles.
I got into racing simply because I’m very competitive and every sport I’ve done I’ve had to do at a competitive level
2023 was her third season of racing after she took up the sport during the first Covid-19 lockdown. “I used to do a lot of CrossFit, that was my main sport, and in lockdown the gyms shut down, so I started to ride my bike. I got into racing simply because I’m very competitive and every sport I’ve done I’ve had to do at a competitive level. I never really got to compete in CrossFit apart from some very small local competitions, but hockey I took to a high level, sailing I took to a high level. All these other sports I’ve done I’ve taken to a competitive level.
2023 Guildford Town Centre Races. Image: Ian Wrightson x The British Continental
“This year’s been my best year. Technically, it’s my third year in the racing scene, but the first one wasn’t really a proper one,” explains Proud, who hit the ground running with a third place in the Dave Peck Memorial road race in April before taking a big National B win at the Banbury Star Road Race, a round of the Women’s Team Cup, a month later, sprinting clear from an elite group of eight including The British Continental national road race rankings leader Lucy Lee (DAS-Handsling). Proud kicked off her criterium season with the National Circuit Race Championship in Redcar back in June, visible at the head of the race in the closing stages before winding up seventh in a messy sprint; a precursor for what was to come on the biggest stage.
The strength and power is there, but racecraft is something that needs experience and others to teach me
“I can definitely improve further,” she states, having changed coaches for this season with great effect. “The strength and power is there, but racecraft is something that needs experience and others to teach me.”
Regular spectators to the National Circuit Series were not surprised at the sight of the 26-year-old at the head of affairs, something Proud laughs about when asked about her willingness to ride at the very front of the bunch. “I’m aware I waste a lot of energy, but in the crits especially, I prefer to not have to surge out of every corner. Some riders take them a bit slower, so you then have to slow down and power out of it. There’s more chance of getting stuck in a crash. In criteriums, it certainly can be useful to race at the front, maybe not right at the front, but a few wheels behind.”
2023 Guildford Town Centre Races. Image: Ian Wrightson x The British Continental
The tactic is also one born out of necessity, the lack of teammates often leaving Proud in a difficult place, having to chase down moves where multiple teams are represented. “Without a team to work with – it’s just the two of us, me and Caitlin [Dimbleby], if a couple of people go up the road from a different team, I’m able to chase down moves a bit easier, either getting myself in the move or stopping it from going.”
They are one of the most supportive communities I’ve been in and encouraged me to get back into racing this year
Proud spent 2023 racing for Le Col RT, a team based around London, formed from the Le Col Cycling Club with rides being devised by former professionals such as Chris Opie and founder Yanto Barker. Training with the group twice a week, Proud was asked to race under the Le Col banner when she found herself without a team for this season, her happiness at being part of the tight-knit group shining through. “They are one of the most supportive communities I’ve been in and encouraged me to get back into racing this year.”
The realities of racing for a club team whilst holding down an engineering job meant Proud was only able to compete in four of the six National Circuit Series rounds, the predominantly northern flavour of the series also working against the Guildford-based rider. “I work full time, so for me to manage to fit all the road and circuit racing is a lot. I really enjoy crit racing, so I focused on the enjoyment. I enjoy road racing as well, but it was more manageable to focus on the National Circuit Series. I missed Sheffield and Ilkley in the end.
“It costs a lot of money to be able to do all the races and takes a significant amount of support from my family. Sometimes me and Caitlin will share accommodation for races and I’ve got a very supportive company that allows me to be flexible with work to allow me to travel to races. It would be nice to have more races in the south. Having the Guildford round of the National Circuit Series was amazing, but it would be great to have more.”
2023 Guildford Town Centre Races. Image: Ian Wrightson x The British Continental
Proud was forced to race on instinct for much of the year with few teammates and no DS to fall back on, experiencing races and situations for the first time . “I’m completely self-motivated,” she states. “With the Le Col Race Team there’s support within the community, but we’re turning up to these races that we haven’t done before and just giving it our best shot.”
It would be nice to race abroad, have some more variety and higher level races, as well as more support
Extra support, both on and off the road, looks to be in the pipeline for 2024, as Proud reveals that she has been in contact with other teams for next year, although nothing has been agreed yet. The move to a UCI team is appealing, the chance for an extended calendar one of the obvious advantages. “It would be nice to race abroad, have some more variety and higher level races, as well as more support, because at the minute I basically have none!”
Proud was able to make the trip north of the border for the UCI Grand Fondo Championships in Scotland in August, having qualified for the Great Britain team by winning the Tour of Cambridgeshire qualifier. “It’s essentially a mass start road race with the men going off first, then the women,” explained Proud. “My wave ended up being for the 19-39 age group in the end with about 100 starters from all different nations. It wasn’t very aggressive for the first 30km until we got to the climbs, then it started to spice up a bit. There wasn’t much teamwork, everyone was fighting for their own position.”
Age group winners at Glasgow included current Astana General Manager Alexandre Vinokorov and darling of the 2011 Tour de France Johnny Hoogerland, Proud adding herself to the illustrious list of names, sprinting to the win from a group of around 20 riders after a tough finale. “I got dropped on the final climb of the race, but rode myself back on,” she explained, the race panning out to allow her strengths to be utilised.
2023 Guildford Town Centre Races. Image: Ian Wrightson x The British Continental
“I think I can wear the rainbow jersey if I compete in any Gran Fondo events,” she laughs, clarifying that they’re not something she will be targeting. However, Proud did not rule out racing next year’s Gran Fondo World Championship in Denmark, on a course likely to suit her, with any bid being largely determined by the team she finds herself riding for next year, the race only being open to ‘amateur’ riders on non-UCI teams.
First, however, is the hunt for an illustrious National A win, a prize which should not elude Proud for too much longer given the rapid progress she has made in such a short space of time.
Featured image: Ian Wrightson x The British Continental
To call Emily Proud an interloper would be unfair, if accurate. Overcoming a distinct lack of experience in National A criterium races, the Le Col RT rider became a fixture at the head of the National Circuit Series this summer, taking on the collective might of some of the best teams in the UK in swashbuckling style from the front. A measured but meteoric rise towards the top of the domestic scene confirmed for the 26-year-old.
Proud was one of the standout riders of the summer-long series, collecting two second places and a further top ten out of the four races she entered, including a magnificent performance in her hometown of Guildford, one which she rates as the best of her short career. “I dropped my chain twice on the first lap and was dead last crossing the line. Somehow, I crawled my way back round!” she recalls, downplaying the sheer power on display that night, where she finished an eventual second.
The Guildford round would prove a catalyst for Proud, who would go on to race with confidence, commanding the front of the race to sprint to second place a week later in Dudley against a stellar field, then backing it up with a confident sixth place at the final round in Newark; her place among the leading talent on the roads of the UK undeniable.
“I’d have loved to have won,” says Proud when asked if there was a hint of disappointment at coming so close to a National A win. “It would have been nice to take a first place in a National Series, but it was my first year doing the National Circuit Series so I was quite happy to take two second places away from it.”
A powerful rider with a big engine, Proud’s strong sprint at the end of a tough race provides her with an enviable asset. “I like to think I’m a sprinter, certainly not a climber. I always get dropped up Edge Hill (Banbury)!” she chuckles.
2023 was her third season of racing after she took up the sport during the first Covid-19 lockdown. “I used to do a lot of CrossFit, that was my main sport, and in lockdown the gyms shut down, so I started to ride my bike. I got into racing simply because I’m very competitive and every sport I’ve done I’ve had to do at a competitive level. I never really got to compete in CrossFit apart from some very small local competitions, but hockey I took to a high level, sailing I took to a high level. All these other sports I’ve done I’ve taken to a competitive level.
“This year’s been my best year. Technically, it’s my third year in the racing scene, but the first one wasn’t really a proper one,” explains Proud, who hit the ground running with a third place in the Dave Peck Memorial road race in April before taking a big National B win at the Banbury Star Road Race, a round of the Women’s Team Cup, a month later, sprinting clear from an elite group of eight including The British Continental national road race rankings leader Lucy Lee (DAS-Handsling). Proud kicked off her criterium season with the National Circuit Race Championship in Redcar back in June, visible at the head of the race in the closing stages before winding up seventh in a messy sprint; a precursor for what was to come on the biggest stage.
“I can definitely improve further,” she states, having changed coaches for this season with great effect. “The strength and power is there, but racecraft is something that needs experience and others to teach me.”
Regular spectators to the National Circuit Series were not surprised at the sight of the 26-year-old at the head of affairs, something Proud laughs about when asked about her willingness to ride at the very front of the bunch. “I’m aware I waste a lot of energy, but in the crits especially, I prefer to not have to surge out of every corner. Some riders take them a bit slower, so you then have to slow down and power out of it. There’s more chance of getting stuck in a crash. In criteriums, it certainly can be useful to race at the front, maybe not right at the front, but a few wheels behind.”
The tactic is also one born out of necessity, the lack of teammates often leaving Proud in a difficult place, having to chase down moves where multiple teams are represented. “Without a team to work with – it’s just the two of us, me and Caitlin [Dimbleby], if a couple of people go up the road from a different team, I’m able to chase down moves a bit easier, either getting myself in the move or stopping it from going.”
Proud spent 2023 racing for Le Col RT, a team based around London, formed from the Le Col Cycling Club with rides being devised by former professionals such as Chris Opie and founder Yanto Barker. Training with the group twice a week, Proud was asked to race under the Le Col banner when she found herself without a team for this season, her happiness at being part of the tight-knit group shining through. “They are one of the most supportive communities I’ve been in and encouraged me to get back into racing this year.”
The realities of racing for a club team whilst holding down an engineering job meant Proud was only able to compete in four of the six National Circuit Series rounds, the predominantly northern flavour of the series also working against the Guildford-based rider. “I work full time, so for me to manage to fit all the road and circuit racing is a lot. I really enjoy crit racing, so I focused on the enjoyment. I enjoy road racing as well, but it was more manageable to focus on the National Circuit Series. I missed Sheffield and Ilkley in the end.
“It costs a lot of money to be able to do all the races and takes a significant amount of support from my family. Sometimes me and Caitlin will share accommodation for races and I’ve got a very supportive company that allows me to be flexible with work to allow me to travel to races. It would be nice to have more races in the south. Having the Guildford round of the National Circuit Series was amazing, but it would be great to have more.”
Proud was forced to race on instinct for much of the year with few teammates and no DS to fall back on, experiencing races and situations for the first time . “I’m completely self-motivated,” she states. “With the Le Col Race Team there’s support within the community, but we’re turning up to these races that we haven’t done before and just giving it our best shot.”
Extra support, both on and off the road, looks to be in the pipeline for 2024, as Proud reveals that she has been in contact with other teams for next year, although nothing has been agreed yet. The move to a UCI team is appealing, the chance for an extended calendar one of the obvious advantages. “It would be nice to race abroad, have some more variety and higher level races, as well as more support, because at the minute I basically have none!”
Proud was able to make the trip north of the border for the UCI Grand Fondo Championships in Scotland in August, having qualified for the Great Britain team by winning the Tour of Cambridgeshire qualifier. “It’s essentially a mass start road race with the men going off first, then the women,” explained Proud. “My wave ended up being for the 19-39 age group in the end with about 100 starters from all different nations. It wasn’t very aggressive for the first 30km until we got to the climbs, then it started to spice up a bit. There wasn’t much teamwork, everyone was fighting for their own position.”
Age group winners at Glasgow included current Astana General Manager Alexandre Vinokorov and darling of the 2011 Tour de France Johnny Hoogerland, Proud adding herself to the illustrious list of names, sprinting to the win from a group of around 20 riders after a tough finale. “I got dropped on the final climb of the race, but rode myself back on,” she explained, the race panning out to allow her strengths to be utilised.
“I think I can wear the rainbow jersey if I compete in any Gran Fondo events,” she laughs, clarifying that they’re not something she will be targeting. However, Proud did not rule out racing next year’s Gran Fondo World Championship in Denmark, on a course likely to suit her, with any bid being largely determined by the team she finds herself riding for next year, the race only being open to ‘amateur’ riders on non-UCI teams.
First, however, is the hunt for an illustrious National A win, a prize which should not elude Proud for too much longer given the rapid progress she has made in such a short space of time.
Featured image: Ian Wrightson x The British Continental
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