For a brief moment, the dream was alive. On the final time up the Côte de la Butte Montmartre on stage 21 of the Tour de France, British champion Fred Wright attacked, and was off the front of the bike race.

The Pinarello Q36.5 rider lit the race up on the cobbles through, until his move was shut down by yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and former world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech). The 27-year-old kicked off what would become the winning move of the stage, as Van der Poel held on for victory on the Champs-Élysées.

"The adrenaline got me through," Wright said after the finish, where he finished 25th.

"My hand is so sore. It's really sore now, it's hitting me. It was a nice way to end the Tour. I was floating nicely on Bini's wheel but with the headwind I just got a bit blocked."

"I was dying a bit, I got a bit excited," Wright continued. "I saw a yellow bike on my inside, I thought it was Pogi but it was Florian [Vermeersch]. Maybe it was a bit foolish, but at least I was at the front end of the bike race. If you don't try you never know.

"It's really special. I feel a bit sick to be honest, I got through that on a lot of mental energy rather than physical today. My brain is all over the place."

Shown the pictures on TNT Sports in the UK after the finish, Wright said: "That's pretty cool. It's just a shame I had that crash a few days ago, that would have given me a bit of energy. In 20 minutes I'm going to forget it all, have a beer and a pizza, and love the fact I was on the front on Montmartre.

"It's like an out of body experience. Tom [Pidcock] asked me in the race how I was, and I said I don't know. I'm not going to forget that for a long time."

"I was so gutted on stage 17 because I had a crash and the break had gone at that point. To be able to race at the front today was a pleasure. I wanted to do that more this Tour. First Tour for this team, we can be really happy with it [Pinarello Q36.5 finished their maiden Tour de Tour with Pidcock in 9th]."

British national champion Fred Wright is battling on through the latter stages of the 2026 Tour de France with several injuries, including a broken bone in his left hand.

A heavy crash on stage 17 saw the Pinarello Q36.5 rider hit the tarmac hard, along with fellow teammate, Tom Pidcock.

The crash happened during the early stages of a fast and often chaotic stage on Wednesday. "The road sort of narrowed, randomly, and there was a bit of raised pavement that wasn't signalled or anything," Wright told us before starting stage 18. "And yeah, I hit it coming on the side with full speed, and it took me out. It should be pointed out, to be honest - it caused a big crash."

Wright and his Pinarello Q36.5 teammates had stages 17 and 18 firmly in their sights as days to launch an attack, but the crash and its repercussions have dealt their best laid plans a serious knockback.

Arriving with one knee bandaged and nursing a suspected break in his left hand, Wright revealed he had spent hours in hospital instead of getting valuable rest before today's tough mountain stage.

"I thought I fell alright, but my hand was really sore and I had scans on it yesterday," Wright continued. "I've broken something. It's a small bone on my finger. It looks like it's broken."

Despite the injury, Wright is determined to continue. "It's manageable," he told Cycling Weekly. We are going to get ourselves to Paris."

Nevertheless, the disappointment is palpable: "Yesterday was a real shame. The goal was to be aggressive and be up there. And looking at the way the move was, I think, without the crash, I feel like I would have been there. I'll see how I fare today, but yesterday and today, were the days we had to try and be aggressive, and, yeah... in the end I aggressively hit the floor, unfortunately."

Wright had been looking forward to getting his national champion's jersey a bit more airplay: "I'd have hoped to have showed it up a bit more, to be honest. So maybe I'll try and show it off a bit today, but yeah, I'm not sure how much is possible, because I didn't have the best sleep last night.

"Obviously, being in the hospital, getting the CT scans - it's not it's not ideal prep. So now it's on to three horrible mountain days, but yeah, I should be alright."

Wright finished stage 18 156th, 34:13 behind stage winner Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), but comfortably inside the time cut.

In the hours after Fred Wright won the British National Road Championships last weekend, cogs started to turn at Pinarello Q36.5. Only four days separated the event from the Tour de France’s team presentation in Barcelona, Spain, where Wright will line up ahead of his sixth appearance at the race. He had earned his right to wear the British bands. Could his team make him a new kit in time? “They were the first emails being sent,” Wright says. “That evening, on Sunday, that was the first thing: ‘OK, how are we going to get this ready?’”

The matter quickly became pressing. The truth is, not only does Wright want to show off his second national champion’s jersey, the spoils of his latest victory, he’s also plotting to win in it.

Since making his Tour debut in 2021, Wright has led breakaways at the race, tallied a string of stage top-10s, and scored a near-miss second place behind Mads Pedersen in 2022. This year, having swapped Bahrain Victorious for Tour debutants Pinarello Q36.5, he hopes everything will fall into place.

“I’m always going to be at the start line of a Grand Tour wanting to win a stage. I think that’s how I am as a rider,” he tells Cycling Weekly. “I just want to be in the mix for stages, showing the bands. I got in a few breakaways last year, but I probably wasn’t as up there and involved as I’d have liked. Wherever there’s a chance, I’d like to be there.”

Wright, 27, is now in his seventh year as a pro. To date, a major international win has eluded him, despite his will to attack. Five times he has finished in the top five of stages at the Vuelta a España, once at the Tour, and until his National Championships win in Aberystwyth on Sunday, which came from a three-man shout-out with Lewis Askey (NSN Cycling) and Connor Swift (Netcompany-Ineos), he hadn’t won for three years – his only other pro victory being the same in 2023.

To win again, he says, felt “really special – it’s nice to know that I can still play a final well and come out of it on top. In a scenario where you’re not necessarily the favourite, knowing that I can still wangle my way to the win, that bodes well for the Tour.

“One thing’s for sure: I felt really good, which is always nice. Everyone’s flying at the Tour, everyone’s going well, but I can confidently say I’m in very good shape.”

Pinarello Q36.5 manager Doug Ryder announced on Wednesday that the team are planning to race “proactively” on their Tour debut. The squad will be led by Vuelta podium finisher Tom Pidcock, who, along with his seven team-mates, will “look for opportunities every day”, Ryder added.

Wright has already singled out his chances over the three weeks. “There’ll be a bit of helping Tom, but I think the plan also is to go for breaks,” he says. “I’ve already got some stages in my head, how the race is going to flow. It’s really exciting.”

Naturally, Wright would not be drawn on announcing the days he is targeting. “With these breaks, especially in high-level races, it’s random enough that you don’t want to think about it too much,” he says.

“You never really know how the GC gets involved, or what breakaway stages are going to be like. But no, I’ve got my eye on some stages and I’m always going to be hopeful, always going to be trying.”

After waiting three years to win again, Wright's next victory could be days away. The finish line shot, arms outstretched in the red, white and blue of the British champion's jersey, would surely sit nicely in a frame on the mantelpiece.

Some of the best-looking jerseys you'll see this year in the Tour de France won't be those worn by classification leaders, or even just plain old team members – they'll be on the backs of the peloton's new national champions.

The weekend just gone saw road championships held across the northern hemisphere, with the national tunics being swapped between riders in most cases.

Not all of those riders will make the Tour de France selection for their teams of course, but plenty will, and we could see nearly a dozen national champions taking the start line in Barcelona on Saturday.

It's always a great honour for a rider to be able to wear their national champion's colours at a race like the Tour and they'll show them off with pride. Whether some of the team sponsors will be quite so pleased is debatable, with the champion's tops generally watering down the sponsorship somewhat.

Among the new road champions who have already been confirmed as riding in Le Grand Boucle are new Tadej Pogačar's Mexican teammate at UAE Team Emirates-XRG Isaac Del Toro, new French champ Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United), Germany's Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla), George Bennett of New Zealand (NSN Cycling), Denmark's Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and his Norwegian teammate Anders Skaarseth and finally new Kazakh champion Nicolas Vinokourov (XDS-Astana).

These seven are the riders that have been confirmed, but there are likely to be others, not least new British champion Fred Wright (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Quinn Simmons of the USA (Lidl-Trek). Simmons's teammate and new Czech champ Mathias Vacek could be there too, and Egan Bernal, who won the Colombian champs back in February, remains a possible for Netcompany-Ineos.

The new road champions aren't the only riders who will be sporting national champs' jerseys over the coming three weeks – there are also the time trial champions, who get to wear their own national colours during the Tour's two races against the clock: the stage one team time trial in Barcelona, and stage 16's lumpy ITT on the shores of Lac Leman.

So far those riders are set to include Italian TT don Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos), Spain's Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Germany's Nils Politt and Austria's Felix Großschartner at UAE Team Emirates-XRG, making it three national champs helping out race favourite Pogačar, and there's also Netcompany-Ineos's Polish stalwart Michał Kwiatkowski and Eric Kirsch of Luxembourg and Cofidis.

Fred Wright sprinted to his second road race victory at the British National Championships in Aberystwyth on Sunday after a brutal afternoon.

Three years after his first title – and only career victory until now – the Pinarello Q36.5 rider was part of a three-man group which made it to the finish. Wright beat Lewis Askey (NSN Cyling) on the line with a bike throw, with Connor Swift (Netcompany-Ineos) following in in third.

The trio had been away with Mattie Dodd (Ineos Grenadiers Racing Academy) and Elliot Rowe (Visma-Lease a Bike Development), but they were dropped with just under 10km to go on the final lap. Rowe won the sprint for fourth, meaning he is the new under-23 British national champion.

The big split happened with around 60km to go of the race, as the five that would decide the destiny of the elite and under-23 race escaped, initially with Jed Smithson (Hagens Berman Jayco) as a member, before he was replaced with Swift. As the quintet entered the local circuit in Aberystwyth for the final few laps, it was clear that the victory would come from this group.

Despite multiple attacks from Askey and then Swift in the closing kilometres, neither could distance Wright, who appeared confident in his ability to win in the end. Swift led the trio out into the finale, before Askey launched the sprint, with Wright rounding him on the line.

"It was a typical National Championships really, attacks from the start, full gas racing until a select group formed," Wright said post-race. "It's random but at the same time it does follow the same pattern: we take chunks out of each other for as long as we can and then a select group forms. I was happy to make that group and then we slowly whittled it down. The three of us were the strongest on the day and I played my cards well in the final. 

"I was trying not to think about it [winning] at the end. The year I had in the stripes was really special and as soon as you're not in them you really miss it. I was trying not to think about it too much in the last 10km. Just think about racing, how you would do things normally, without going too crazy. It's such a special thing, and I'm really happy to hopefully take these to the Tour. That's always special.

"I do love it, I hope I can start the Tour of Britain this year, I don't know what my schedule will be. It's lovely racing on British roads, we've had a really nice day here. We've had a really nice weekend at the seaside."

Results

British National Road Championships, elite men road race (187.3km)

1. Fred Wright, Pinarello Q36.5, in 4:15:47
2. Lewis Askey, NSN Cycling
3. Connor Swift, Netcompany-Ineos, both at same time
4. Elliot Rowe, Visma-Lease a Bike Development, +17s
5. Mattie Dodd, Ineos Grenadiers Racing Academy, at same time
6. Ollie Wood, RCC Racing, +3:05
7. Tom Portsmouth, Guidon Chalettois
8. Adam Mitchell, Vendée U Primeo Energie
9. Jed Smithson, Hagens Berman Jayco, all at same time
10. Danny Riwnyj, Foran CT, +3:12

Fred Wright is to ride the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men for Bahrain Victorious, it was announced on Monday, as the start list for the UK's biggest men's bike race was confirmed.

The race begins on Tuesday, 2 September, in East Suffolk, running until Sunday, 7 September in Cardiff. Wright joins a start list replete with talent, including Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers).

Thomas will be bowing out of professional cycling after the Tour of Britain, and will ride in a specially designed Ineos Grenadiers jersey. Joining Thomas for Ineos will be two-time Tour stage winner this year, Thymen Arensman.

The 19 teams on the start list have six riders each, and each squad has varying objectives; some teams aim for the overall win high up on the general classification, while others aim for stage wins, sprints or otherwise.

There are nine WorldTour teams on the start list, including UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers; eight ProTeams; a single Continental squad; and a Great Britain team, mostly made of young developing riders.

There are 24 British riders in the peloton of 114, including five former national champions in Ben Swift, Thomas and the reigning Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers), Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) and Wright.

This year's race will be held over six stages, running from September 2 to Sunday 7 September. The race begins in East Suffolk, before moving to the middle of the country and then finishing in Wales after a couple of hilly stages.

The full list of teams set to compete at the Tour of Britain are below, with number to help you spot your favourites.

Tour of Britain 2025 start list

Ineos Grenadiers
1 THOMAS Geraint (GBr)
2 AUGUST Andrew (USA)
3 HAMILTON Lucas (Aus)
4 SWIFT Ben (GBr)
5 ARENSMAN Thymen (Ned)
6 WATSON Samuel (GBr)

UAE Team Emirates-XRG
11 HERREGODTS Rune (Bel)
12 JOHANSEN Julius (Den)
13 MORGADO António (Por)
14 OLIVEIRA Rui (Por)
15 SIVAKOV Pavel (Fra)
16 VERMEERSCH Florian (Bel)

Visma-Lease a Bike
21 BRENNAN Matthew (GBr)
22 KOOIJ Olav (Ned)
23 AFFINI Edoardo (Ita)
24 VAN BELLE Loe (Ned)
25 GLOAG Thomas (GBr)
26 VERMOTE Julien (Bel)

Lidl-Trek
31 DECLERCQ Tim (Bel)
32 GEOGHEGAN HART Tao (GBr)
33 MOLLEMA Bauke (Ned)
34 TEUTENBERG Tim Torn (Ger)
35 FRYDKJÆR Patrick Boje (Den)
36 KÄMNA Lennard (Ger)

Soudal Quick-Step
41 EVENEPOEL Remco (Bel)
42 PEDERSEN Casper (Den)
43 LAMPERTI Luke (USA)
44 HAYTER Ethan (GBr)
45 SVRČEK Martin (Slo)
46 VAN WILDER Ilan (Bel)

Israel-Premier Tech
51 BLACKMORE Joseph (Gbr)
52 HOFSTETTER Hugo (Fra)
53 SCHULTZ Nick (Aus)
54 GILMORE Brady (Aus)
55 MARRIAGE Zac (Aus)
56 TARLING Finlay (GBr)

Uno-X Mobility
61 LEKNESSUND Andreas (Nor)
62 TILLER Rasmus (Nor)
63 PEDERSEN Henrik (Den)
64 KRISTOFF Alexander (Nor)
65 URIANSTAD BUGGE Martin (Nor)
66 INGEBRIGTSEN Storm (Nor)

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
71 PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien (Fra)
72 DE BONDT Dries (Bel)
73 LAFAY Victor (Fra)
74 ISIDORE Noa (Fra)
75 GUDMESTAD Tord (Fra)
76 TRONCHON Bastien (Fra)

Bahrain-Victorious
81 BILBAO Pello (Esp)
82 WRIGHT Fred (GBr)
83 ERŽEN Žak (Slo)
84 EULÁLIO Afonso (Por)
85 GOVEKAR Matevž (Slo)
86 ZAMBANINI Edoardo (Ita)

Picnic PostNL
91 DEGENKOLB John (Ger)
92 FLYNN Sean (GBr)
93 LEIJNSE Enzo (Ned)
94 ONLEY Oscar (GBr)
95 DE JONG Timo (Ned)
96 VANHUFFEL Matteo (Bel)

Groupama-FDJ
101 GRÉGOIRE Romain (Fra)
102 DONNENWIRTH Tom (Fra)
103 GERMANI Lorenzo (Ita)
104 LE GAC Olivier (Fra)
105 WALLS Matthew (GBr)
106 ROBERTS Reef (NZl)

Tudor Pro Cycling
111 ALAPHILIPPE Julian (Fra)
112 DAINESE Alberto (Ita)
113 RONDEL Mathys (Fra)
114 FROIDEVAUX Robin (Sui)
115 TRENTIN Matteo (Ita)
116 LIENHARD Fabian (Sui)

Q36.5 Pro Cycling
121 DONOVAN Mark (GBr)
122 LIEPIŅŠ Emīls (Lat)
123 FRISON Frederik (Bel)
124 TOWNSEND Rory (Ire)
125 VADER Milan (Ned)
126 PIDCOCK Joseph (GBr)

Lotto
131 AERTS Toon (Bel)
132 BEULLENS Cedric (Bel)
133 GIDDINGS Joshua (GBr)
134 MENTEN Milan (Bel)
135 ORINS Robin (Bel)
136 VEISTROFFER Baptiste (Fra)

Unibet Tietema Rockets
141 STOKBRO Andreas (Den)
142 DE VRIES Hartthijs (Ned)
143 BOMBOI Davide (Bel)
144 HUENS Axel (Fra)
145 KOPECKÝ Tomáš (Cze)
146 KYFFIN Zeb (GBr)

Kern Pharma
151 BRUSTENGA Marc (Esp)
152 ELOSEGUI Iñigo (Esp)
153 GOMEZ Iker (Esp)
154 PÉREZ César (Esp)
155 URIARTE Diego (Esp)
156 WENZEL Mats (Ned)

Flanders-Baloise
161 LANHOVE Milan (Bel)
162 CRABBE Tom (Bel)
163 DEWEIRDT Siebe (Bel)
164 HESTERS Jules (Bel)
165 MARIS Elias (Bel)
166 VERCOUILLIE Victor (Bel)

Anicolor/Tien 21
171 WOOD Harrison (GBr)
172 GUERIN Alexis (Fra)
173 REIS Rafael (Por)
174 FERNÁNDEZ Rubén (Esp)
175 MARTÍNEZ Victor (Esp)
176 FERNANDES Paulo (Por)

Great Britain
181 WIGGINS Ben (GBr)
182 BUCK JONES Huw (GBr)
183 BOSTOCK Matthew (GBr)
184 CHILTON Ben (GBr)
185 GOLLIKER Joshua (GBr)
186 CHARLTON Josh (GBr)

Fred Wright will join Q36.5 Pro Cycling from Bahrain Victorious for 2026, uniting with Tom Pidcock as part of their Classics squad, it was announced on Tuesday.

The Londoner, 26, has spent six years at Bahrain Victorious after turning pro with them in 2020, during which time he has come close to major wins at the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, with the top spot eluding him. Wright won the British National Championships in 2023, his only elite win to date.

He has also finished in the top 10 of the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo, hinting the direction potential future success might come in.

“Fred is an intelligent rider," Q36.5's general manager, Doug Ryder, said in a press release. "He reads the races well and is very versatile. He has already achieved top tens in Monuments like Milan-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, and adding a focused classics block to his season will be a big objective for us together.

"He was close to wins in the Tour de France and Vuelta a España already, and I feel we can offer him the final step to win again. His engine is big and his attacking style is always great to watch. When we were looking for riders to strengthen the Classics team, he was quickly on our radar. He turned pro young and still is only 26, so I am really looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together in the next three years."

Wright's breakout year was 2022, when he finished seventh at Flanders, and then was a constant attacking threat at the Tour de France, finishing second in Saint-Etienne on stage 13. He followed that up with a similar performance at the Vuelta, where he finished second in the points classification.

Since then, he has continued his breakaway action as well as refining his punchy-sprint style; he finished second on stage two of the Critérium du Dauphiné this year.

"I have been part of this team for my entire career so far and without discrediting them and all the opportunities I had here, it’s time for a new environment after six years," Wright said. "Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team feels like a good fit for me. I have known Tom [Pidcock] and Mark [Donovan] for a while and the group they are building for the future feels familiar already."

"I do want to win again, naturally, and feel like a new environment with a fresh focus, new ideas and new people will help me achieve that goal," he continued. "There are opportunities for me in many races and after having done more or less the same race schedule for years, I am looking forward to discover new races too. I am here to help build the team but they are on a great trajectory already. The ambition is there and they will keep growing."

Wright is not the only British rider whose transfer was announced on Tuesday: Lewis Askey will move to Israel-Premier Tech from Groupama-FDJ for 2026. Keep up to date with all the deals through our guide to transfers.

It would be easy to look at the first ten stages of the Tour de France and come to the conclusion that it's going to be a subdued affair, a damp squib before the real action in the mountains gets underway, and an opportunity to do something else instead of sitting and watching the race all day. But after studying the route in detail, Bahrain Victorious' Fred Wright says the reality will be the complete opposite as he gets set to travel to Lille next week.

"The first week at the Tour is going to be so exciting," he said. "That's because some of those early stages will really open up the race, I can see Tadej [Pogačar] maybe trying to gain bonus seconds on Jonas [Vingegaard]. That might mean he ends up winning a few of the stages but none of them are hard enough that other guys won't also be in the mix too. That’s what we as a team will probably be hoping for in the first ten days or so too."

"From what I can see in the first ten days, I think it's going to make for some f*****g amazing racing," he added. "I think it's going to be more of a spectacle than everyone thinks with Tadej not just walking all over everyone. I had the exact same initial thought as everyone else; I looked at the roadbook and thought there were a lot of flat, sprint type stages in the first ten days, but it really isn't like that.

"It's going to be much harder than everyone thinks, there's a lot of Classics style, hilly stages in there, a bit like some of the Ardennes Classics."

Wright will head into the Tour fresh off the back of an impressive showing at the Critérium du Dauphiné in which he recorded two top ten stage finishes, most notably finishing second in a bunch sprint in Issiore to Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan. Wright was also on the attack on the opening day and said he intends to approach the Tour in a similar fashion.

"We've got our goals as a team, but personally I've already looked at it and there are a few stages that I've got in mind which will definitely be good days for me to try something in the breakaway," he said. "How I was racing the Dauphiné is how I'll approach the Tour, it's the level I want to be at and how I want to go about searching for opportunities, it's really exciting for me.

"I was really in my element for those first few days at the Dauphiné, so I'm ready for this now and just want to keep building on what I’ve been doing, hopefully I can have a successful Tour."

In stark contrast to Wright, Geraint Thomas is one man who isn't looking forward to the opening week in what is set to be his final lap around France. "It's more the roads, you've got some narrow roads, it could be pretty windy at times," the Ineos Grenadiers rider said on his Watts Occurring podcast on Monday.

"Everyone knows the first week of the Tour is stressful, this is just prime stress levels at ten out of ten… to be honest, I'm not really looking forward to that bit. I would have preferred a couple of hard days like last year, it just settles everyone down then."

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) took his first road race win on French soil on stage two of the Critérium du Dauphiné, outsprinting Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in Issoire.

The big Italian made use of a sterling leadout from Lidl-Trek in the final kilometre to get ahead of his rivals as he opened up his sprint. After Simon Consonni peeled off, it was over to Milan to finish the job.

Wright and Van der Poel both launched powerful sprints in their own right but could not come past Milan with the line in sight.

The win also meant that Milan will wear the race leader’s yellow jersey on stage three after he jumped ahead of Tadej Pogačar in the general classification.

"It was really tough," he said afterwards. "Our goal was to come here and keep building up the condition and get some good results. Yesterday I was suffering a lot, it was my first race after a long time, but today I suffered a lot again and dropped at one point. I have to thank my teammates as they got me back on and brought me to the last metres. Massive thanks to them."

He added: "We knew that we had to take the last corner in the front, it was perfect the way we did that. It’s pretty nice to take yellow, I have to say."

How it happened

After the unexpected general classification drama that unfolded 24 hours previously, stage two of the Critérium du Dauphiné was set to be an undulating, hilly affair across 204 kilometres between Prémilhat and Issoire. On paper, it was a stage for the breakaway experts with six minor classified climbs littering the parcours.

An initial four-man move went clear early on consisting of Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Romain Combaud (Picnic-PostNL), Victor Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Paul Ourselin Cofidis). The gap to the lead quartet fluctuated between a minute and a half and two minutes for much of the afternoon’s action in the foothills of the Massif Central.

With 50 kilometres remaining to the finish, Juul-Jensen and Guarnalec were the last men standing and had a gap of just 19 seconds over the chasing peloton. Alpecin-Deceuninck, Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Emirates flooded the front of the main field in an attempt to eat into the remaining deficit to the leaders.

Meanwhile, Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan was dropped due to the increase in tempo and struggled off the back. It was all over for Juul-Jensen and Guarnalec just five kilometres later when the bunch finally made contact with the lead duo.

Once the break had been caught, the peloton appeared to knock off the pace as the finish drew closer, with the average speed rarely climbing over 40 kmph. Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) was ever present at the head of the peloton, marshalling the group as they approached the final climb of the day, the category four Côte de Nonette, which came 18 kilometres from the line in Issoire.

As the summit approached, Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL) jumped clear of the bunch on his local roads and attempted to get away. The move from the soon to retire French was short lived, with the peloton soon bringing him back into their midst.

UAE led the peloton under the kilometre to go banner as the sprint teams looked to wind it up for the run in. Lidl-Trek were the first team through the last corner with Milan perfectly positioned. The Italian launched a devastating sprint that meant he beat Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) comfortably by a few metres.

Results

Critérium du Dauphiné 2025, stage two: Prémilhat > Issoire (204.6 km)

1. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 4:54:49
2. Fred Wright (Gbr) Bahrain Victorious,
3. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck,
4. Stian Fredheim (Nor) Uno-X Mobility,
5. Paul Penhoët (Fra) Groupama-FDJ,
6. Emilien Jeanniere TotalEnergies,
7. Bastien Tronchon (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale,
8. Yevgeniy Federox (Kaz) XDS Astana,
9. Matis Louvel (Fra) Israel-Premier Tech,
10. Clement Venturini (Fra) Arkea-B&B Hotels, all at same time

General classification after stage two

1. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 9:34:51
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, at same time
3. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +2s
4. Fred Wright (Gbr) Bahrain Victorious, +4s
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
6. Hugo Page (Intermarché - Wanty), +8s
7. Anders Foldager (Den) Jayco-AlUla, +9s
8. Nils Politt (Ger) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, at same time
9. Bastien Tronchon (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +10s
10. Paul Penhoët (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at same time

You could see Fred Wright was exhausted after Paris-Roubaix just from the way he was slumped on the astro-turf in the middle of the Roubaix Velodrome. The Londoner had good reason to be, though, after a tenacious performance a on Sunday saw him finish ninth, his fourth top-10 finish in a Monument after two at the Tour of Flanders and one at Milan-San Remo.

The Bahrain-Victorious rider recovered from mechanical issues on the Arenberg trench sector to battle through to the third chasing group on the road, finishing the first British rider.

"I avoided the big crashes and whatnot early, in the first part," the 25-year-old explained post-race, the grime of the day's effort clear on his face. "It was pretty hectic on that first sector, but I managed to survive OK. I kept believing, my bike went into crash mode on the Arenberg, which was probably the worst thing that could have happened.

"I positioned myself well, after missing the split on the sector before, and then I was in my biggest gear churning away getting passed by everyone and I thought the race was over. Thanks to the headwinds, it allowed me to come back slightly a bit more into the race. I changed bikes and then it was just about keeping believing. I'll take a top 10, that's alright in the end."

This was Wright's fifth Roubaix, his fifth in a row, and followed a 12th place last year, when he came into the velodrome in a group of nine. This year, he was determined to get a better position. His charge was aided by a bit of fortune, too.

"There was one point coming towards the end, coming into the Carrefour [de l'Arbre] where I was thinking, 'Actually, I need to go here', because I was feeling better than this group," he said. "I attacked my group in the same place Pauline attacked yesterday, and that worked alright actually.

"The two guys on the front [of his group] – two idiots – didn't realise you had to turn right into the velodrome, they just went off left and that was them out of the picture," he continued.

"Then there were five of us, and I thought it was a bit easier to get a top 10. The Intermarché guy had a gap, [Jasper] Philipsen started closing, and then I hit them with a lap to go and I thought they'd come but managed to hold on for ninth."

After a successful start to the year, with ninth at Roubaix following 10th at San Remo, the former British champion is now determined to convert one of these near-misses into a win.

"I've got to start doing a bit better," he said, "how not to be the best of the rest. I'm happy with that [result], though."

Fred Wright suspects illness may have been behind him missing the Tour de France time cut, after he struggled on stage 11 in the Massif Central on Wednesday. 

Wright was out the back of the peloton for most of the mountainous 211 kilometre stage and spent almost 160 kilometres by himself in front of the broom wagon. After missing the time cut by eight minutes, Wright was automatically pulled from the race. 

During Thursday's stage 12, Wright's teammate Pello Bilbao also abandoned the race after struggling off the back of the peloton. 

In a video clip released by his team, Bahrain Victorious, Wright said that there was illness going round in the peloton and that he believed it had possibly impacted him. 

"Today I probably had the worst day on the bike of my entire career so far," Wright said. "I knew straight from the start, I actually followed an attack, and realised I wasn’t feeling the best. I really suffered in the first few kilometres and unfortunately, I found myself on my own which for a day like today wasn’t the best.

"I fought as much as I could, as much as my body allowed, but I really wasn’t feeling myself today. I’m not quite sure yet what the reason was, but I think there’s a bit of sickness going round in the peloton and I’m pretty certain that I’ve fallen victim to that one. It was probably the worst day it could have come."

Wright, who finished 8th on stage 8 of the Tour, added: "It’s a bitter pill to swallow, to not make the time cut and to be out of the Tour. But that’s the way things go. I’m gutted that I can’t finish this nice journey with the boys and fight for some stage wins, but I’m sure I’ll be back. I’ll take some rest now and then look towards the rest of the season."

Meanwhile Astana Qazaqstan announced on Thursday morning that Mark Cavendish’s main leadout man, Michael Mørkøv, was out of the race after testing positive for Covid-19. Astana said that Mørkøv had no typical symptoms of the virus, but was being pulled from the race to protect his long term health, regardless. 

There is no Covid protocol currently in place at the Tour, a stark difference compared to the 2023 race, but some teams including Ineos Grenadiers and Bahrain Victorious have opted to put their own measures in place, such as wearing face masks.

Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) are just two of a handful of high profile riders who were forced to miss the Tour this year after testing positive for the virus around the time of the Critérium du Dauphiné. 

Current race leader Tadej Pogačar also said before the race began that he had tested positive for Covid around ten days before the Grand Départ in Florence. 

Fred Wright is out of the Tour de France on stage 11 after finishing outside the time limit, a day he described post-stage as the worst of his life.

The Bahrain Victorious rider was out the back early on during the mountainous stage in the Massif Central, with about 160km still to ride on Wednesday, and eventually finished just eight minutes outside the time limit. 

It was the fastest stage with over 4000m of elevation this millennium, which can't have helped Wright's cause, as well as being a hot day in the centre of France. The former British champion finished 1:01:50 behind the stage winner, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

"That was the worst day of my life," Wright told ITV Sport post-stage. "I really had to suffer then, and it wasn't much fun.

"I'm not sure to be honest," he replied when asked what had gone wrong. "It was an easy day yesterday, and I felt terrible at the finish. I couldn't help the boys. I thought OK, let's go into today with a fresh mind. I'm always going to be up for it and stay positive. In the start, I was involved for the first one or two kilometres, but then I had a bit of a moment where I felt terrible. 

"I dunno, I just didn't have any power left. I was on my own quite early on. I've always been quite good at sort of time trialling, working out what I've got, this is where I need to push. I have no regrets, because that's all I've got. It was just a shame it was me alone."

"I wouldn't have wished this on my worst enemy, not that I've got many enemies," Wright added. "I don't think I'm going to suffer like that again, which is hopefully a good thing."

Wright's breakout ride came at the 2022 Tour de France, when he was a regular in the breaks, finishing second on stage 13 of that race behind Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). In 2023 he impressed again, spending time in the breakaway on two stages. His best result this race was eighth on stage eight, behind Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), who won the stage.

This year’s British National Road Championships will take place in the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire, British Cycling has announced. 

The event, scheduled for 19-23 June, will mark the second year in a row that the championships are held in the region, with the road races starting and finishing in Saltburn, as they did in 2023.

This year’s edition, however, will bring a "modified version" of the route with "fewer climbs", British Cycling outlined in a press release. Fred Wright and Pfeiffer Georgi earned national honours on Saltburn Bank last year, climbing 4,073m and 2,826m respectively on their way to victory in the men’s and women’s elite races.

"To win my first elite national road title on Saltburn Bank was incredibly special and it has been such a privilege to wear the national jersey in the pro peloton," Wright said. "It meant a huge about to win last year and I can’t wait to head back to the seaside and battle it out against the best riders in the country with some amazing crowds."

The championships will open with the time trial events on 19 June in North Yorkshire. Darlington town centre will then host the circuit races on 21 June, following on from last year’s event less than 30 miles away in Redcar. 

The road races will take place on 23 June, with laps through Saltburn and out onto the rolling terrain of the Tees Valley. "We had such a good battle last year," said Georgi, who won from a seven-rider move. "I can’t wait to race in front of home crowds again and try and retain my jersey once again."

The event’s return to the Tees Valley comes as part of an effort to grow cycling in the northeastern region. 

Councillor Carrie Richardson, deputy leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, said her borough is "absolutely committed" to staging cycling events. 

"[It] gives us the opportunity to boost tourism and showcase the area as a great place to come on holiday and cycle with some of the best coastal and country views in the nation," she said. "We’ve become a key area for major cycling events in the last few years and long may that continue."

The detailed routes for the events will be released in due course. It is unknown at this stage if the road races will finish once again on Saltburn Bank, with its 22% maximum gradient, or somewhere else in the seaside town. 

After starting in bright sunshine in Thoiry in the Yvelines department of France, stage two of Paris-Nice was a relatively subdued affair as the peloton meandered south in the direction of Montargis. 

In the end, a highly charged sprint finish was inevitable. But it wasn’t Olav Kooj that got another moment in the spotlight, it was Tudor Pro Cycling’s Arvid De Kleijn. The Dutchman was a surprise stage winner ahead of Laurence Pithie (Groupama FDJ) who took over the overall race lead. 

Reflecting on what had been a relatively straightforward day for his team, Bahrain Victorious, Great Britain’s Fred Wright told Cycling Weekly in Montargis that the weather conditions on the rolling terrain were behind the reduced pace. 

Wright said: "It was just a headwind. The main factor was the headwind. There's not that many guys motivated for the break on a day like this. 

"Most teams, even the smaller teams have sprinters that they want to ride for, I mean, Tudor they're not WorldTour but they won the stage today. So that kind of shows. 

"You had the guys fighting for the mountain points, but no one really wants to be hacking into a headwind for four hours just to be caught I guess."

For a large part of the day, the peloton had the appearance of a casual Sunday club ride as opposed to a WorldTour bike race. However, Wright explained that the calmer tempo made for a frenetic finale as the sprinters tore into the centre of Montargis. 

"It wasn't really the stage that I think the organisers had planned with no crosswinds," he said. "We were on a lot of roads where I thought this would have been very different if the wind was coming from a different direction. 

"But in the end, in a lot of ways, it makes it slightly more stressful because everyone's fresh coming into the final kilometre. It was pretty carnage at the end but chapeau to Tudor because they really nailed it with that lead out in the end. 

"We got caught on the wrong side, which is a bit annoying, but the GC boys were safe, so at least we ticked that box."

The British national champion said that he was largely relieved to see the back of the race’s first two stages, ahead of the inevitably brutal days further south to come in the mountains around Nice. 

But before the peloton reaches Nice, the riders will tackle two hillier days around Sisteron in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region. 

Wright explained that he had circled stages five and six in the roadbook as two days opportunities to potentially get up the road and ignite some action in the breakaway.

"I'm quite happy that these first two days are done now as these can be the real stressful ones at Paris-Nice," Wright explained. "Hopefully we'll have a nice hit out in the team time trial tomorrow. 

"Then hopefully there could be some opportunities for me on stage five and six but we'll see."

"Whether it's breakaway or a little reduced sprint, I'm not sure, but six I've had a look at as well as five," he added. "I think five might be controlled again for another sprint, but it's like a much harder sprint and then stage six looks look like a day for a breakaway. 

"Then it's just a case of surviving the mountains for me and then thinking about the rest of the Classics season now."

Paris-Nice continues on Tuesday in Auxerre with a team time trial on stage three. 

This article is part of Cycling Weekly's 'the ride that changed me' series. Our writers hear from a range of professional and ex-professional cyclists about that one day on the bike that changed the trajectory of their career for good. 

When asking a rider to highlight a formative moment in their career, it would be easy for them to circle their first pro win, a solid performance in a prestigious race, or signing for a major WorldTour team. 

Fred Wright is someone that could tick all of the above off any sort of metaphorical career to-do list. The Londoner rides for Bahrain Victorious, is the reigning British national champion and has consistently hit the high notes in the Spring Classics as well as the Tour de France. 

Speaking to Wright outside the Truman Brewery on an autumnal evening in east London - prior to him speaking on stage at Rouleur Live - I assume that when I ask him to talk me through a ride that changed him he’ll maybe pinpoint one of the many days in which he’s shown that a maiden Grand Tour stage win is getting ever closer. 

Although clearly I assumed wrong, as Wright explains. 

“I could say a pro race, or something like that, but actually, I think it was probably when I was 11 or 12 when I went to a youth Omnium track event with my Dad,” he says. “I can't recall exactly when it was but I was completely new to the sport, it was kind of like a regional level race, I had no idea how I was going to do.” 

“I was so nervous,” he adds. “I didn't know what to expect or anything like that. I think the first thing you did was just like a one lap time trial. Basically, I managed to win the one lap time trial. 

“My Dad's got a good memory of me walking over to the results sheet, because they'd always just post them up like where the sign on is and stuff, and realising that I was on the top of the list and 12 year old me being like 's**t! I am actually pretty good at this’ so I’d say that day.” 

"I think I'd say that's probably where this all started"

Wright smiles and remembers that at that point, something clicked, and he was instantly hooked on everything based around competition and two wheels. 

“I think that's kind of when I knew that I wanted to race bikes properly,” he says. “I had no idea how I was going to do, I was about 12 years old, and won my first little race as part of an omnium. I was just like ‘wow’ I think I'd say that's probably where this all started almost.

“I was going to say Flanders but actually, I think in terms of how and where it all started, and what kind of race had the probably biggest impact on what I then went on to do, it probably would have been that back then.”

Wright labels that day as his “oh yeah” moment before turning professional. His teammate, Matej Mohorič, has previously told CW that those early moments before hitting the top level are often the ones that are most pivotal. 

Equally, that “oh yeah” moment can materialise at any point later down the road, as it did for Annemiek van Vleuten. I tell both of the riders about the Dutch superstar’s “ride that changed her” and they both agree that bike racing is full of “oh yeah” moments, even when you least expect them. 

“I'd say, to be honest, the Tour of Flanders, not this year but the year before, was a kind of similar 'oh yeah' moment,” Wright says of his seventh place at the 2022 edition of the iconic race. 

“Although I still think it's probably the bits before being a pro that I'd say are probably more important in terms of being more formative and teaching you how to set yourself up and learn about what you want to do.

“I know that being 12 and winning the regional omnium, of course, in the grand scheme of things, it means nothing.

"But at the time that was like 'wow, I'm really good at cycling’ and got me wanting to cycle more and race more basically.” 

Join us for the next instalment of 'the ride that changed me' in a fortnight's time.

British champion Fred Wright has been taken to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone.

The Bahrain-Victorious rider crashed during stage four of the Renewi Tour, the Belgian race previously known as the Benelux Tour and Eneco Tour.

Wright, aged 24, was forced to abandon the race immediately, and his team confirmed after the stage that "he is at hospital with a suspected collarbone injury."

If confirmed, it will be the second time that Wright has broken his collarbone, having suffered the same injury in December 2021 at a team training camp in Spain.

The injury, likely to rule him out for the rest of the season, comes with Wright sitting fifth overall on general classification, after finishing sixth on the third stage and 15th during the stage two individual time trial. Stage four was won by DSM-Firmenich's Sam Welsford.

Back in June, Wright took his first win as a professional when he became British road race champion. 

He featured in two breakaways at the Tour de France, and finished in the top-20 on four separate stages.

Despite only having one win on his palmarès, Wright has established himself as one of his team's most valuable assets with his punchy and combative racing habits.

He has been a pro with Bahrain-Victorious since 2020, and has a contract until the end of 2025.

In 2024 he will have a British compatriot, with Finlay Pickering joining the team from Trinity Racing on a three-year contract.

The 20-year-old previously raced for the development team of Groupama-FDJ.

British national road champion Fred Wright has played down his and Team GB’s chances against the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert in the elite men’s road race at the Glasgow World Championships on Sunday.

Wright and Ben Turner have been highlighted as the team’s two protected riders in the road race, but Tom Pidcock’s absence from the British team leaves them without a serious contender against some of the outright favourites to take the rainbow jersey.

Speaking to the media on Thursday afternoon in Scotland, both Wright and Rowe suggested that the British squad will look to “get ahead” of the likes of the Dutch and Belgian teams in order to enable them to seize any potential opportunity when the Glasgow city centre circuit arrives.

“Me, Conor [Swift] and Ben Turner are going to be the guys that we’re looking to potentially get in the pre-final move,” Wright said. “I think in our team we haven’t necessarily got one of the superstars like your Van Aert’s or your Van der Poel’s but we’ve definitely got guys that can do something if we get ahead of those other guys so that when they come to us it’s a bit more of a level playing field.”

Belgium and the Netherlands arrive in Scotland as two of the strongest teams for the road race. As well as Van Aert, the Belgian squad contains last year’s winner Remco Evenepoel as well as the Tour de France green jersey winner Jasper Philipsen.

Wright suggested that the belief isn’t lacking in the GB camp despite their underdog status and that they will look to force the Belgian’s to chase a lot of early moves in an attempt to weaken them as the finale approaches.

As well as Wright, the British squad contains Luke Rowe, Ben and Conor Swift, Jake Stewart, Sam Watson, Ben Turner and Owain Doull.

Rowe told the media that Pidcock’s presence could have potentially made them stronger, but he said he has every faith in his teammates to be at the sharp end of the action on Sunday.

“I think it’s no secret that we’re going into the race as slight underdogs,” Rowe explained. “I think we’re missing a few riders which would put us more up there as a favourite. We could have had Tom [Pidcock] or Ethan [Hayter] here but I’d argue that it wouldn’t add a great deal and I’m confident in the boys we’ve got here.

“I think it’s obvious that there’s four or five guys out there who are on a bit of another level compared to the rest of the peloton really. If you wait and try to race them man on man in the final, I think you’re just waiting with a loaded gun to your head aren’t you really and you’re going to come off second best.

“I think the only way to counteract that is to get ahead of the race but at the same time, there’s probably 100 other blokes thinking the same. What will be said on most buses is try and get ahead of them and let them come across to you.”

"The way he races shows he just wants to light things up"

As well as some of the Classics superstars of the peloton, two of the best Grand Tour riders currently operating will be on the start line in Edinburgh. Evenepoel will provide a different type of opposition to contend with as will Slovenia’s two-time Tour winner Tadej Pogačar.

Wright explained that as far as he’s concerned, Pogačar’s presence on the startline won’t affect his or team GB’s approach to the race.

“I think just seeing the way he was riding on the Champs-Élysées the way he races shows he just wants to light things up,” Wright said. “He’s definitely going to be a big player on Sunday but we almost need to let him come to us.

"We haven’t really got someone that can follow him when he makes his move but there’s still a lot of other guys and you can’t just focus on Pogačar… there’s a lot of strong guys out there so you can’t get too fixated by him I guess.”

Rain expected

After the riders have faced a long ride from Edinburgh, they will arrive at a fast and technical city centre circuit in Glasgow. Rain is expected on Sunday which could see the race turn into a wet and slippery affair.

Wright explained that whilst the British riders will be ready for it, everyone will still need to be on their guard once they enter Glasgow.

“It’s going to be hard on the circuit that’s for sure if it’s wet,” he explained. “There will potentially be more crashes but I think us British riders we’re a bit more used to that kind of weather. If the weather’s crap you’ve just to stay positive with it.”

“Someone told me there’s 450 corners,” Rowe added. “It’s natural that the way the peloton moves after every corner it gets lined out. With rain that just enhances all that. The peloton is like a piece of plastic, it’s always stretching then coming back together and the rain will just enhance that effect in the peloton and make the race a whole lot harder.  

“It’s about accepting that and dealing with that. It sounds cliché but it's the same for everyone. We’ve got a job to do so we’ve got to just get on with it.”

“It’s not an indoor sport is it, we don’t do it in a stadium so you’re going to get wet and have just got crack on and get it done.”

The elite men’s road race is always one of the showpiece events of the World Championships, and Sunday’s race in Glasgow is bound to be a spectacular and frenetic affair on the fast and technical city centre circuit.

Coming hot on the back of the recent Tour de France, Sunday’s race will be given an extra edge by a lot of the contenders carrying their form from the Tour into the event.

On paper, the road race looks like it’s very much one for the Classics specialists. The 271 kilometre course, which features ten laps of a fast and twisty 14-kilometre Glasgow finishing circuit, is widely expected to be hit by rain.

All of those factors combined will mean that in order to get on the podium, riders will need to be prepared to fight and battle for position once they enter the city centre after arriving from Edinburgh.

Remco Evenepoel will return to defend his title, although he will face stiff competition from all angles, including from two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar, who will arrive hungry for success after being defeated by Jonas Vingegaard once more at the Tour in July.

As well as Evenepoel and Pogačar, various Classics stars will line up for the race and be looking ahead to the circuits in Glasgow as the place to make their mark.

One notable absence in the field will be Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock. The Ineos Grenadiers rider is focussing on the mountain bike events later in the championships. Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay will also not be present due to injuries sustained at the recent Clásica San Sebastián.

In Pidcock’s absence, Great Britain will look to Fred Wright and Ben Turner as the team’s two protected riders in the battle for the rainbow jersey.

Here are Cycling Weekly’s eight picks for the elite men’s road race on Sunday. 

Wout van Aert (Belgium)

Belgium arrive in Glasgow with a squad brimming with talent for the men’s road race. It is simply overflowing with Classics stars, Grand Tour stage winners and riders of the calibre of Remco Evenepoel, who of course is the reigning world champion after his dominant display in Wollongong, Australia last year.

The lack of actual mountain type terrain on this year’s course suggests that it will be a tall order for Evenepoel to do the double. However, the Belgian have another card to play on the Classics style course. Wout van Aert.

Van Aert left the recent Tour de France early in order to attend the birth of his second child, although before he left, the Jumbo rider was regularly up the road and involved in various breakaways. The 28-year-old came second to Julian Alaphilippe in Imola three years ago, and will be more than ready to try go one step further this time out. 

Mads Pedersen (Denmark)

As a former winner of the rainbow jersey, Mads Pedersen knows exactly what it takes to land one of the most prestigious prizes in professional cycling.

Pedersen relishes gruelling races of attrition, and that’s exactly what the road race is set to be on Sunday. The Danish rider impressed in the recent Tour de France, taking a stage win in Limoges, and was regularly in the thick of the action in the punchier stages, so he absolutely has the form to thrive in Scotland.

It’s widely anticipated that the weather conditions won’t be favourable on Sunday with rain expected in Glasgow. Pedersen won in the pouring rain in Yorkshire four years ago, so will remain completely unfazed by the prospect.

With his strength and ability to race hard across all terrain, Pedersen will be able to follow any moves from the likes of Wout van Aert or Mathieu van der Poel on the technical city centre circuit. He also has the power to launch a solo move on the Montrose Street climb and will be tough to then reel back in.

Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands)

The Dutch superstar struggled with illness at the Tour, but still managed to be heavily involved in pretty much all of the stages won by Jasper Philipsen, his Alpecin Deceuninck teammate.

Other than his role in Philipsen’s leadout train, Van der Poel had a relatively quiet Tour by his high standards and therefore on paper should be fresh and ready for Glasgow. The 28-year-old had a scintillating spring campaign this year, picking up maiden victories at both Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo, and has won countless other major one-day races during his career so far.

His ability in a one-day setting inevitably makes him a contender in a race such as this where the rider's raw power, strength and endurance will be tested along with their technical ability. Van der Poel beats most of the other potential challengers in all of those categories which makes him the outright favourite for victory on Sunday. 

Remco Evenepoel (Belgium)

Remco Evenepoel won the Clásica San Sebastián recently in the rainbow jersey and appears to be bang in form as Sunday draws near.

The Belgian has had a sensational period racing in the rainbow stripes and similarly to Pogačar, he has proven himself as both an astute racer in a one day setting as well as in a Grand Tour.

Evenepoel was simply untouchable in San Sebastián last weekend and will be tough to follow if he launches a long distance solo attack once the race enters the Glasgow circuits.

The only issue standing in Evenepoel’s way from a second consecutive world title is a potential battle for leadership once more in the Belgian camp. Evenepoel will be forced to share leadership with both Jasper Philipsen and Wout van Aert, although it's unlikely that will get in his way as he guns for a second world title.

He will also have one eye on the elite men’s time trial next week, but that won’t distract from the prestige of dispatching his rivals once more in the road race this weekend.  

Julian Alaphilippe (France)

As a two-time former world champion, Julian Alaphilippe is always a rider who should be considered a threat on a course such as the one the riders face on Sunday.

Since taking his second rainbow jersey in Flanders in 2021, Alaphilippe hasn’t quite hit the heights that he’s capable of, although it's worth noting that he has struggled with both injury and illness in recent months.

The effervescent Frenchman had a relatively underwhelming Tour de France, regularly getting into breakaway positions but failing to personally deliver a stage win for his Soudal Quick-Step team.

Nevertheless, this could play into Alaphilippe’s favour on Sunday and on his day, he is undoubtedly one of the best Classics riders currently operating in the WorldTour.

As well as victory at Milan-San Remo, Alaphilippe has a vast array of impressive results in a one-day setting on his palmares. This also includes three Flèche Wallonne victories and a win at the Clásica San Sebastián.

He is an astute racer, full of punch and panache, and could well fly under the radar to victory on Sunday and prove a few people wrong who have doubted him in recent months in the process. 

Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia)

Tadej Pogačar arrived in Scotland on the back of an up and down Tour de France, which eventually saw him finish as runner up to Jonas Vingegaard for the second successive year.

The Slovenian showed glimpses of his form at the French Grand Tour, but ultimately was unable to topple Vingegaard despite picking up two mountain top stage wins. With that in mind, it’s likely that the two-time Tour winner will line up on Sunday hungrier than ever to win and seize the rainbow jersey from the shoulders of Evenepoel.

Pogačar had a sensational spring which saw him add a Tour of Flanders victory to his already glittering palmares. The Slovenian won with a long range, scintillating attack on the Oude Kwaremont which completely blew all of his rivals out of the water. He then went on to add victories at both the Amstel Gold race and Flèche Wallonne.

His technical ability on the bike will mean that he can take some of the corners on the Glasgow circuit much quicker than others. The 24-year-old also has an explosive turn of speed in his locker which he could well put to good use on Sunday. He will almost certainly be in the picture for the podium.  

Christophe Laporte (France)

Jumbo-Visma’s Christophe Laporte will arguably line up in Edinburgh as France’s protected rider in the fight for the rainbow bands.

The 30-year-old Frenchman had a solid spring campaign for his trade team which saw him collect victories at both Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen. His victory in the latter was a superb display of tactical awareness and power, as he capitalised on hesitation in a lead group of riders before bridging across to them and powering away solo to victory.

Laporte’s stock has risen hugely since his move to the Dutch team from Cofidis, and as a result he’s rapidly become one of a select group of riders who regularly contests some of the biggest one day races in the calendar.

Laporte is capable of winning from a variety of scenarios. He has the power and ability to launch a solo attack from distance, but also has the speed to win a sprint from a reduced group. He won the sprint for second behind Evenepoel in Wollongong last year and will be ready and waiting to pounce if others hesitate in the closing stages on Sunday.  

Alberto Bettiol (Italy)

Alberto Bettiol will arrive as co-leader for Italy alongside Tudor Pro Cycling’s new signing Matteo Trentin.

The Italian duo aren’t usually in the same ballpark as Evenepoel, Van der Poel and Van Aert on this type of course, although anything can happen in a road race such as this. Bettiol has already ridden both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this year and went close to victory on a few occasions proving that his form is building nicely.

An impressive showing at the Clásica San Sebastián underlined his credentials as a proven racer, and he tested Evenepoel when they went on the attack in the Basque country.

Bettiol has a solid turn of speed and a big engine. He can also more than handle punchy climbs like the 7% Montrose Street and will be able to follow moves from some of the bigger favourites. The Italian won the Tour of Flanders in 2019 and if others have an off day, he could find himself well in contention in Glasgow. 

Best of the rest

As well as the likes of Van Aert, Van der Poel and company, plenty of other riders could find themselves in a potential race winning position this weekend.

Neilson Powless (USA) has rapidly improved in a one-day setting and will relish the technical course. Montrose Street may not be long enough for him to make a difference, but he could still find himself in the race winning move at the end.

Michael Matthews (Australia) has the punch and tenacity to thrive but didn’t finish the Klasikoa last weekend. Matthews won a stage at the Giro earlier this year and if he has the form, could potentially challenge.

Fred Wright (Great Britain) has already impressed in a one-day setting this season and finished in the top ten at the Tour of Flanders. He doesn’t have the power of the likes of Van der Poel but has the resilience and determination to fight for victory.

Uno-X’s new signing Magnus Cort (Denmark) loves a hilly and up and down race. If Pedersen doesn’t have the form to contest the win then Cort is more than capable of stepping up for Denmark.

Dylan van Baarle (The Netherlands) is an industrious rider, and if Van der Poel should fail then Van Baarle can follow moves before potentially launching a solo attack. The Dutchman did after all finish second to Julian Alaphilippe in Flanders in 2021.  

When the uninitiated watch bike races, the question they always ask is "why do they not simply attack, ride off the front?" Sometimes, bike racing is that easy. A frantic stage 12 of the Tour de France showed why those instances are so rare. 

Just like on stage 10, Thursday's breakaway took a long time, and dozens of attacks, to properly form. Riders who were attempting things as soon as the flag was dropped were still attacking over an hour later, trying to escape from a tense peloton. It was not easy.

One such baroudeur was Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious), who was attacking from the beginning, and eventually made the front group, but could not hang on. The British champion eventually crossed the line in 124th place, in the penultimate group on the road.

"I was in the front, then I was in the last group," he explained to Cycling Weekly post-stage. "I tried my absolute hardest to get into that move, but I just went a bit too into the red, and then when it finally went, I followed Mathieu [van der Poel], but I completely exploded. I don't think I would have lasted long there anyway, but it was such a hard start, it was outrageous."

It was telling that the eventual winner was not an escape artist per se but Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) a climber, with the course proving just too hard for the likes of Wright and Van der Poel. When informed that it was Izagirre who won, Wright laughed: "He's a climber!"

"I think the nature of the climbs, it kept the few punchy riders still in the group, but none of us were strong enough to actually make a gap," Wright said. "UAE and Jumbo were always closing it, keeping it close together, but I tried my hardest. I was feeling really good, it's just kind of a shame the way the race panned out. But you can't control these things."

It was the start that made it so hard, straight into an uncategorised climb before anyone had even warmed up, similar to Tuesday's stage 10.

"It was one of the craziest starts, because I was a bit more involved," Wright said. "It was quite something. It felt longer than an hour an a half. 

"I'm a little bit disappointed not to have been there [in the front of the race], but in the end I don't think I would have lasted very long, I cooked myself trying to make it happen."

There is so much pressure at the Tour de France, so much expectance put on riders and teams, that breaks on a day like stage 12 are not simply allowed to ride away, hence why it took 70km for the day to settle a bit.

"We've been saying in team meetings 'on that descent, or at the top of that climb, it [the break] should go', and both days it has been 20/30km further along than what we expected, so it's been pretty mental trying to get in the breakaway," Wright explained. "Everyone is a bit cooked, and we're still trying to take chunks out of each other."

Bike racing: so simple, and yet so difficult to get right at the same time. Fred Wright tried to simply ride off the front on stage 12, but couldn't. Another day it could be different; he will surely try again.

Fred Wright has said that his late attack on stage eight of the Tour de France was a little appetiser for what’s to come from him in the coming two weeks of racing.

As the punchy stage to Limoges - won by Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek - reached its conclusion, the Bahrain-Victorious rider was in the thick of the action as he battled at the front of the peloton looking to contest the uphill sprint to the line.

The Londoner eventually finished 13th.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly in Limoges, Wright explained that he was full of motivation and had plenty more to give at this year’s edition of the French Grand Tour.

“I think today was a bit of a taster and a bit of a warm up for hopefully what's to come in the next couple of weeks,” Wright said. “At the Tour you've got to go easy when you can and yeah, just hope for good legs.”

The British national champion explained that the finale was always going to be tricky and technical, particularly with the small climbs that the peloton faced. 

“We knew with those little climbs, it was gonna be gonna be sketchy with lots of fast descents. On that last climb I put myself in a good position with Matej [Mohorič] and Phil [Bauhaus]. Then, yeah, I tried a little move and followed Victor Campenaerts [Lotto Dstny]  but it was quite clear that even from the very start of the stage they wanted a bunch sprint.

“So yeah, it was maybe a bit of a waste of energy looking at that final, but I tried.”

With the first rest day of the race within touching distance, Wright explained that he was pleased with his performance and would look to carry the same form into the second and final week.

“I think it's fair to say that today I was feeling maybe my best,” he said. “I guess maybe that's just because other people are getting tired but no, I was feeling good today. So I'm really happy with that.”

“Tomorrow's probably a bit of a sleeper stage for me, I'll try and help one of the climbers into the break and then who knows, save the legs to the finish and then it's finally a rest day.

"I'm looking forward to it.”

Fred Wright had spent 220 days racing as a professional before Sunday's British National Championships road race on Sunday. The Londoner had finished second six times in elite races, third another three times, and in the top five 7 times. And yet, the win had not yet come for the 24-year-old, always escaping him at the last. 

In 2022 he seemingly nailed the art of getting in the right move but found himself unable to finish it off, with his breakthrough Tour de France and Vuelta a España endearing himself to fans, but that debut professional win was just out of reach; it was Mads Pedersen's day in Saint-Etienne, Jesús Herrada's in Cistierna.

It took the wet roads of North Yorkshire for it to pay off, with Wright attacking befoe the final climb to victory, managing to put space between him and James Knox (Soudal Quick-Step) and Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech). A clearly delighted, emotional Wright paid tribute to his late teammate Gino Mäder as he crossed the line, nine days on from the Swiss rider's untimely death.

The victory in Saltburn-by-the-Sea did not seem real in the immediate aftermath, with Wright struggling to deal with the enormity of what he had achieved.

“I still can't believe it, to be honest," he explained. "I knew I had some of the best legs I've ever had today and it was so special to cross the line. I still imagined in my head, you know, with 200 metres to go, ‘Knoxy, Stevie is going to come flying past me’, because I know them really well."

However, they did not, with Wright's final attack before Saltburn Bank, with about 4km to go, proving decisive. The man with the best legs could not be caught by Knox or Williams, despite their best efforts.

The three lead riders got away from a breakaway of six on the eighth of 10 laps, with Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Samuel Watson (Groupama-FDJ) and Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), the three that could not handle the pace of the decisive attack. Watson won the under-23 title for a second year in a row, coming fourth in the end.

It was a far cry from the trailed tactics of Ineos Grenadiers swamping the race with its overwhelming numbers; just four of the eight on the start list began the race, and it was much more anarchic than it might have been. Ben Tullet (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mark Donovan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) made impressive attacks but were denied by the strong field. 

The 189km race saw ten laps of the course, which meant a leg-burning 4,037m of elevation across the day. However, it was one for puncheurs as much as pure climbers, hence Wright mixing it with Knox and Williams at the end.

"A race like today is really nice because we're all mates," Wright said post-victory. "It was good fun, I really enjoyed today, [I'm] so happy to get that win. It [the course] was separated into three segments, and it was so attritional. Even when guys went up the road and have 30 seconds they came back fairly quickly. 

"It was all about legs this course. My problem is that sometimes I do too much work, but the work you do on a course like this is rewarded."

Wright's first victory is a special one. It might not be a stage of the Tour or the Vuelta, which would lead him to international acclaim, but it is one which means he is in a select group of riders who have gained the privilege of wearing the British bands. For the next year, he will be even more identifiable in the peloton, which might not help his plan of sneaking into breaks at the biggest races.

"It's not just the bike race, it's being able to wear the stripy jersey and then also for the rest of my career, I'll have a little GB band on my jersey as well," he said. "It means a lot to win this and I can't wait for the next year. I think this will open the floodgates. We will see what the Tour is saying and beyond. To be national champ, it's pretty special.” 

Now the 24-year-old has a taste of winning, he will not want to stop; expect a flying Wright in Bilbao on Saturday, when the Tour de France begins. Victory number one might have been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait.

Away from Jonas Vingegaard's domination at the Critérium du Dauphiné earlier this month, there was one result which might have gone unnoticed: Fred Wright's fourth place in the punchy stage four time trial, just 34 seconds behind Mikkel Bjerg in first, mixing it with some of the best time triallists in the world.

It is this form, plus the fact that two-time winner - and Wright's former housemate - Ethan Hayter is missing through injury, which gives the Bahrain-Victorious rider confidence going into Wednesday's race.

"I think I've got a good shot at winning it, especially with Ethan having crashed and broken his collarbone," Wright explained on Tuesday. "What happened with Ethan did influence my decision to ride the time trial. 

"Obviously, it's good to have a hit out, but the Tour de France is on the forefront of my mind at this point of the season. The road race is going to be tricky, but I'm really looking forward to tomorrow [the time trial] and leaving it all out there."

The elite men's time trial on Wednesday will see the riders complete three circuits around Dalton-on-Tees, along with a circuit around Croft Circuit, totally 41.4km. On Sunday, the men's race finishes and ends in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, with 10 laps of an 18.8km loop meaning 189kmkm in total. However, it is the climbing which is the real draw, with 4,073 verical metres over the course. It's a mini Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Wright feels in form, that much is clear, and enters both the time trial and the road race as a favourite, despite never winning a race as a professional.

"I think my time trial is in a really good place," he said. "I feel really confident in my position and everything. Things like that have improved a lot in the last six months to a year. I was really happy with my Dauphiné TT, so I'm looking forward to it. I just hope the power is there. I'll be extra fresh, because it's pissing it down with rain today."

Threats will likely come from the Huub-Wattshop rider Dan Bigham and Ineos Grenadiers duo of Geraint Thomas and Josh Tarling in the time trial, with the latter junior world champion at the discipline.

The road race is something Wright has almost tasted success in before - second in 2021 - and despite the climbing is one he is also confident for.

"Every year that I come close to winning, I think about what could have been if I'd beaten Swifty [Ben Swift] up Michaelgate in 2021, that was really close," Wright said. "It's such a hard race, always, such a difficult one to predict. Everyone rides flat out until there's a strong group up the road, and they fight it out for the win. I've just got to make that strong group and see what happens.

"That's much easier said than done. I'm hopeful. It'll be interesting to see the course though, because it's quite hilly. I'm on my own, which makes it difficult. I'm on my own, and everyone knows I'm one of the favourites.

"With how I'm feeling on the bike, I'd say it suits me. I'm not worried about it. I should be alright, but we will see."

Ineos Grenadiers are sending an eight-man squad including Geraint Thomas to the road race, which might mean overwhelming numbers for Wright to compete against.

"I could very easily knacker myself out," he said. "Ineos have a few guys, and if they keep hitting it, that might be difficult. They all want to win nationals as well... You just have to gamble."

The build-up to the National Championships has been put into perspective by the death of Wright's teammate Gino Mäder at the Tour de Suisse last week. It is not something the 24-year-old wants to talk about publicly, understandably. He just wants to ride.

"I'd be really happy to win, but with everything that has happened, I just really want to race my bike," he said. "You find a new appreciation for it really."

The British national championships are taking place on Sunday, July 25 and similarly to last year’s edition, there will be a whole host of high profile riders lining up in Redcar and Cleveland for the time trials and road races.

Last year in Dumfries and Galloway, Mark Cavendish grabbed the headlines by winning the national road title for a second time, out-sprinting both Alex Richardson and Sam Watson.

Cavendish is sitting out this year’s championships due to its close proximity to his final Tour de France. The Manxman is gunning for a record breaking 35th Tour stage win to jump ahead of Eddy Merckx, who he’s currently tied with, in the list of most stage wins. 

Geraint Thomas and Fred Wright will be the two most high profile WorldTour riders in the men’s race. Thomas recently finished second at the Giro d’Italia, dramatically losing out to Primož Roglič in the quest for the pink jersey. Wright will relish the opportunity to take the national title on the punchy, hilly circuit in north Yorkshire.

Meanwhile two-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Archibald will be present along with Olympic team-mate Elinor Barker and returning road race champion Alice Towers.

Other major contenders to take to the start line in the women’s road race and time trial will include the lines of Elynor Bäckstedt, Anna Shackley and Lizzie Holden. Here are six other riders to watch out in the road races once the championships get underway.

Fred Wright

The classics and track specialist seems tailor made to the short punch climbs that the national road race is built around. 

He comes off the back of a strong showing at the classics and an altitude camp and a very impressive fourth place in elite company in the time trial at the Criterium du Dauphine.

An amiable and well liked figure in the bunch few victors would be as popular as Wright, especially as it'd be his first road win since turning pro in 2020.

Rob Scott

Before moving to France to join Steve Chainel’s Cross team Legendre, Rob Scott was one of the most prolific winners regularly competing on British soil.

As part of the now defunct AT85 set up, Scott won a variety of races in 2022 including the Lancaster GP, Paris-Troyes and the Tour de la Mirabelle.

A punchy, aggressive rider, Scott should relish the lumpy circuit which includes the Saltburn bank climb.

When the latter half of the day arrives, expect Scott to be alert and ready to pounce on the final climb. The Yorkshireman won’t be intimidated by the prospect of racing against WorldTour riders and will be more than ready to make his mark. 

Alex Richardson

A serial winner across Britain, Alex Richardson will arrive in Redcar and Cleveland as a serious challenger for the national road race title.

If last year’s finish in Scotland had been slightly more punchy, the Londoner would have almost certainly dispatched Cavendish to take the title from under the Manxman’s nose. Richardson rode for Alpecin-Deceuninck in their former guise of Alpecin-Fenix until 2021, and has vast experience of racing at the top level.

Since moving to Saint Piran, the Londoner has flourished under the watchful eye of DS Steve Lampier. Richardson won the Ryedale GP last season, he then matched that achievement in 2023, winning the Lincoln GP for a second time.

More than capable of winning from the breakaway, or in an uphill dash to the line, Richardson will be a huge challenger to the likes of Thomas and Wright next weekend. 

Pfeiffer Georgi 

Pfeiffer Georgi has had a solid campaign so far for DSM in 2023, winning the Classic Brugge-De Panne in March as well as helping teammate Charlotte Kool to win multiple races, including the overall at the RideLondon Classique.

The Londoner has also won the national championships in 2021, and knows how to deliver on the big occasions. A classics specialist at heart, the DSM rider won’t be fazed by the hilly, challenging circuit and has the racing nous to keep herself right in contention throughout the day.

However, Georgi will be going up against the likes of Zoe Bäckstedt which will present a huge challenge. With that said, if anyone’s capable of distancing Bäckstedt then it’s certainly Georgi which makes her a contender for the victory.  

Thomas Gloag

Arriving on the back of a successful Grand Tour debut at the Giro, Thomas Gloag comes into the nationals as a serious contender for the road race title.

A former winner of stages at the Tour de l’Avenir, Gloag is just one of a handful of competitors from the WorldTour.

The Londoner on Jumbo-Visma famously didn’t like to look at the Giro parcours in advance, so when he wakes up in Redcar and Cleveland, he’ll be looking at Saltburn bank and smiling. Gloag is a climber at heart and has impressed whenever the road’s gone uphill in his career to date. However, Gloag often prefers longer climbs in the mountains to short, sharp ramps in Yorkshire.

Nevertheless, if the Jumbo rider has the legs next weekend, he’ll certainly be lively and will look to upset the Ineos apple cart who will be all in for Thomas or former winner Ben Swift. 

Zoe Bäckstedt

Current reigning female junior road and time trial world champion Zoe Bäckstedt will be a huge threat in the female road race.

Bäckstedt is one of the most exciting young talents currently operating at the top level of cycling and has already excelled since stepping up to the pro ranks with EF Education-Tibco -SVB. Earlier this year, the 18-year-old won the elite female title at the national cyclocross championships and will be aiming to replicate her dominant win out on the road in Recard and Cleveland.

At last year’s road world championships, Bäckstedt successfully defended the rainbow jersey she had won the year before with a 57 kilometre solo breakaway in Wollongong, Australia. Possessing a phenomenal engine, with a quick turn of speed, she’s more than capable of winning from a variety of different scenarios and will certainly be one to watch next week.  

Fred Wright is a track rider at heart. 

As a child, he'd ride down to his local velodrome in Herne Hill, London and race around the concrete banking with his friends. It turned out he had a real knack for it. Then the road came calling, and he was whisked away by the romantic promise of Grand Tours and Classics.

Next week, though, Wright’s going back to his roots. He’s been selected by British Cycling to compete at the European Track Championships, in what will be his first major competition with the national squad since 2019. 

How’s he feeling about it? “A little bit nervous to see how the track legs are going to be,” he says, "but that’s kind of the whole reason I’m doing it. I guess it’s to see how I can combine them both [road and track], not just doing the training, but in a racing scenario.” 

For Wright, the championships are a “test”, a chance to prove to himself and his team, Bahrain Victorious, that he can juggle different racing disciplines and still perform at his best. 

“Speaking to my coach [at Bahrain], it basically works well,” he says. “They’re happy for me to crack on with it as long as I don’t break myself. Touch wood.

“The sports directors for the Classics, the one thing they said was it seems like a good thing to be doing, for the speed and everything, but just don’t wreck yourself.” 

Although he hasn’t raced with GB for over three years, Wright’s certainly not out of practice. Before Christmas, the 23-year-old travelled to Ghent, Belgium, to take part in a six-day track cycling event with close friend and compatriot Ethan Hayter. Next week, he's now down to ride the Elimination race and the Madison, alongside team pursuit world champion Ollie Wood, in Grenchen, Switzerland. 

“I’m definitely stronger,” he says, recalling his earlier GB call-ups. “I didn’t quite have the legs back then. I think what I was missing then I definitely have now, which is plenty of Grand Tours in the legs, that fitness.”

Still, he insists, the pressure’s off. Wright’s plan for the European Championships is to enjoy himself, but he’ll do so with one eye on next summer’s Olympics in Paris. 

“That’s something I’m going to push for,” he says. “This opportunity has reignited that ambition to be at an Olympics and also be going for a medal. I guess maybe it’s always been there.

“Going to the Olympics was an ambition of mine since I started properly getting into cycling, and the way things have gone haven’t led to that. Now I’m in a position where there’s a possibility of that.”

For the squad in Paris, GB endurance coach Ben Greenwood will be able to select four riders, and borrow a fifth from another discipline, such as road or mountain biking. This is where Wright could slot in. His hope is to ride the road race and the Madison. "That’s sort of what I’m aiming for,” he says. 

Before that, though, he’ll have to prove that he’s strong enough. He’ll be up against many of the world’s best track talents at the European Championships, giving him the perfect opportunity to show his level and tactical awareness on the boards.  

“It all seems to be falling into place quite nicely,” Wright says, “but I won’t know until I’m 150 laps in how much of a good decision it was. Maybe I’ll regret everything.” 

He smiles, before nonchalantly adding: “If it goes tits up, I’ve got plenty of road races to look forward to.” 

This interview originally appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 29 December. Subscribe now and don't miss an issue in 2023. 

A new-build housing estate on the outskirts of Manchester is not where you would necessarily expect to find one of the riders of the moment, a man who seemed on fire at times this season, and yet in a modern terrace is where Fred Wright lives, with fellow WorldTour pro Ethan Hayter.

The 23-year-old, the Londoner who became a fan favourite with eye-catching rides at the Tour of Flanders, Tour de France and Vuelta a España, has not quite made the transition to the Girona or Nice bubble.

Neither has he given up his old Vauxhall, which research tells me must be at least ten years old, pulling up to his home just in time for the interview, looking more Inbetweener than pro athlete. For someone who finished second on stages of the Tour and the Vuelta in 2022, it feels a lot like student life rather than that of a top cyclist, one with a deal with Bahrain-Victorious until at least 2025, signed in September off the back of his impressive summer.

Not that this is a negative thing; if anything, it’s a positive, a reminder that the Bahrain-Victorious rider still has his feet on the ground, despite a breakthrough year, even if he hasn’t had that breakthrough win.

Seventh at Flanders back in April was followed by an impressive Tour, where he finished in the top ten three times, and spent three days in race-shaping breaks. His surge as the last remaining rider in front of a rampaging peloton into Lausanne was just the start of an almost-golden summer.

It was the Vuelta, though, where he really came to life, often dynamic in breakaways, and so close to his first pro win in Bilbao, in Cistierna, in Montilla, and in Talavera de la Reina. He finished the race second in the points classification to Mads Pedersen, such was his all-round performance. A win feels not just like it’s coming, but that it’s overdue.

New found fame, sort of

Inside his house in Greater Manchester, where Wright has just made me a flat white, we chat about the ongoing attention he is now getting as British Cycling’s latest bright young thing.

“I've had lots more conversations with the media, it's definitely been more significant this off season, there's that interest in what I'm doing,” he explains. “It's exciting, but it's weird. I do separate myself a little bit from the action. It is a bit of imposter syndrome.

“Fred the guy who just rides his bike, and then the guy who was doing stuff at the Tour and the Vuelta. It's just a slow build now to get the sensations I had in the season again now. I hope I can get back to that pretty soon.”

However, despite his new found profile, one of the favourite people of online cycling fans if my social media timeline is anything to go by, Wright is very keen to stress that he would just like to stay the same, the guy who enjoys racing and is friendly.

“One of the problems has been having the time to talk to people,” Wrights says. “If someone wants to talk to me, I want to talk to them. I do want to come across as down to earth, but there are so many things to reply to now. It takes time to adjust to that.”

“I don't like the idea [of being recognised]. Like Tom Boonen couldn't go anywhere in Belgium. I'm not looking for fame, I'm looking to win bike races, and just riding my bike. I'm not trying to be flash. I like it when people are shocked to recognise me, and say 'are you Fred Wright?'”

Other than the results, one thing that put the Bahrain rider in the public eye was the fallout from Primož Roglič crashing out on stage 17 of the Vuelta, something he blamed on Wright in a statement published on his Jumbo-Visma team’s website.

The piece quoted Roglič saying: “The crash was not caused by a bad road or a lack of safety but by a rider's behaviour. I don't have eyes on my back. Otherwise, I would have run wide. Wright came from behind and rode the handlebars out of my hands before I knew it."

This might have been what Roglič felt had happened; the problem was, it didn’t happen like that. Footage shows the Slovenian making the error, riding into Wright.

Back then, Wright tweeted: “It was really hard to read, and I’m pretty disappointed. I think it’s unfair, the team and I have looked at the footage again tonight, and I honestly don’t believe I did anything wrong - it was just a racing incident.”

“I really want to talk to Roglič about that, cos I don't know what it was about,” Wright tells Cycling Weekly in November. “It worked in my favour actually, because it meant people were saying I'm a nice guy. I want to be the nice guy. Obviously, when people are saying that stuff it's great, even if sometimes it's a bit weird. It's only making my big head a little bigger.”

Disappointments

Despite being a fan favourite, and despite his solid set of results across the year, the fact that he hasn’t actually crossed the line first in a professional race is unavoidable. There were three second places and five more top tens, but no photo of the 23-year-old raising his hands in the air, not yet anyway.

The closest he came was stage seven of the Vuelta, from Camargo to Cistierna, where he was in the leading group for 182km, the fastest finisher out of a final five which was made up of Jesús Herrada, Harry Sweeny, Jimmy Janssens and Samuele Battistella. However, he was seemingly not the only one with this privileged information, so Wright was left to lead the sprint out. In the end, it was too big an ask, and Battistella and ultimately Herrada powered past in the final metres.

“Stage seven of the Vuelta stung the most,” he says. “I know it was that because I've gone back through it. I knew I was the fastest guy there, I just missed the sprint there completely. I can see why I raced the way I did. I think I was too desperate for it, I wanted it too badly. I didn't think about it. I took it from the front, which is not always the bad situation, I just started way too early, and it really wasn't great.

“That was the hardest one to get my head around. The team weren't telling me what to do, but you could see from everyone that they thought it should have been a stage win for us. Compare it to Saint-Étienne, I was really disappointed, but everyone else was saying that was the best I could do. Off the back of the year I had, I can take so much confidence into next year; if I'm in that position again I'm more prepared.”

In Saint-Étienne at the Tour, on stage 13, Wright was once again in the winning move, this time a simple 149km out front, which on that occasion saw him finish behind Mads Pedersen. 

He is getting a reputation for infiltrating winning breaks, something that he knows will only mean he is more watched in the coming season, now people know what he can do. It might make winning a little harder, there is less of the surprise factor now.

“Winning races is not going to come from an early break which I get myself into next year. Unfortunately, I've already played a few of my cards that way,” Wright explains. “At the same time, what I was getting good at was just getting into breaks. When moves go after a long time, it is usually the strongest guys, the guys that end up there are those able to get there.

“When you've been fighting for two hours to get into the break, it's not just luck. Like [Richard] Carapaz at the Vuelta, he was unbelievable, how many times he kept attacking to go up the road. I'll be watched more, but I won't change the way I try to race. I want to keep doing the same. There will be stages that come along where the team might ride for me too. I think I've got a good eye for reading the race. I've messed up in the finalé, but I'm good at getting there in a good position.”

However, despite not winning just yet, he insists that the pressure is not telling on him too much, and insists he is still positive. He is prone to thinking, though, he presents himself as slightly more cerebral than others in the peloton.

“You have to approach this like 'it doesn't matter if I don't win', and it's quite hard to have that mentality if you haven't won, or had that big result. Once I win one, that gets the ball rolling,” Wright says.

“I don't think I put much expectation of what I want out of my career on myself. I'm not like 'I have to win Flanders, or Roubaix'. I don't have a win at all costs mentality, that's not in my nature as a person. Of course, you do put pressure on yourself. It doesn't mean I don't want to win. I overthink afterwards, I go to bed thinking about it.

“I think what comes with the win at all costs mentality, it's easier to switch off maybe. Because you think you will win another time. I am still positive, and I think that's what keeps me going. I will always look to the next race.”

Classics specialist

Although he was probably flashiest in the final Grand Tours of the year, and looks like he has already settled into type as some kind of breakaway whisperer, it is at the Spring Classics where Wright really feels at home.

There is definitely a link between the kind of hard, long day at the Vuelta or Tour and a tough day racing that will always come at a Classic, especially a Monument. This is the kind of race that he thrives on.

It was at the Tour of Flanders in April where Wright looked the most emotional after a result this year. His seventh place there being extra special, as he finished just 11th seconds behind the winner, Mathieu van der Poel, having been in the leading group all day.

“Flanders was emotional because I went into it with loads of confidence, and then being in that select group coming into the final, it was all of the things that I want to be doing in my career,” he says. 

“I want more than seventh, I want to win, but it is such a big race for VCL [Velo Club Londres, Wrights childhood club] among other things. I was there with those guys, and I felt like I should be there: 'I'm definitely good enough to be here'. 

“It was probably a turning point in my career, because before I haven't felt good enough to be in that position. It felt like an honour. For the big one to go so well is great, I took the confidence from that through the rest of the season. Going into the Tour I didn't feel out of place.”

As someone who has been right in the heart of these races, and who loves them so much, Wright is someone with the perfect insight into what riding them is actually like.

“I think people underestimate the chaos of the Classics,” he says. “It's such a mental strain, doing your homework and knowing the course is so important, because you can save so much energy that way. I still have so much to work on with positioning, but that comes with riding it. The more you do it, the more you absorb. I think I'm quite good at that.”

This might be an advantage for someone like the Londoner, who is clever, which sometimes doesn’t help his overthinking.

“At school, I wasn't amazing at forming arguments, but I could tell you all the facts from history,” he says. “It wouldn't take me that long to put them in my brain and repeat them.”

As for the future, he has three more years on his contract with Bahrain, something which gives him security, at a place where he feels at home. It should give him the platform to deliver, starting with Opening Weekend at the end of February.

“I want to be up there in the Classics, fighting for a win in as many as possible,” Wright says. “I think I really can get to that point. I was almost there last year, and I'd really like to win one. I don't think that's out of this world. Like the way [Biniam] Girmay won Gent-Wevelgem. I know that I won't be as strong as [Wout] Van Aert, Van der Poel or [Julian] Alaphilippe, but you can be in the mix, and pick the right move.

“If I could win Flanders or Paris-Roubaix in my career, I'd be very happy.”

He might be down to earth, and he might want to be the nice guy, but his ambition burns bright.

This interview originally appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 29 December. Subscribe now and don't miss an issue in 2023. 

Now the curtain has drawn on the 2022 road season, focus is already shifting to what next year might bring. Who’s destined for a career-defining victory? Who will emerge as the next big thing? 

It’s impossible to keep an eye on everyone, so here are 10 of the most promising up-and-coming riders to watch in 2023.

Fred Wright

You can’t help but get the feeling that something big is coming for Fred Wright. The Brit enjoyed his best season to date in 2022, but despite his plucky determination, a WorldTour win still eluded him. 

Wright came agonisingly close to victories at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España this season, but both times had to settle for second behind Danish powerhouse and former world champion Mads Pedersen.

In the first half of 2023, Wright is likely to aim for the Monuments and his Bahrain Victorious teammate Matej Mohorič believes it’s only a matter of time before he wins one. After his valiant display in April’s Tour of Flanders, it’s hard not to think the same.

Juan Ayuso

This September, Juan Ayuso became the first teenager to step onto a Grand Tour podium since 19-year-old Henri Cornet won the Tour de France almost 120 years ago. 

Now 20 years old, Ayuso has already established himself as one of the peloton’s strongest climbers. The UAE Team Emirates rider’s performance at this year’s Vuelta a España proved he has what it takes to become a GC candidate, and with the likes of João Almeida, Brandon McNulty and Rafał Majka at his side, there’s no reason he can’t win one. 

The Spaniard has said he’d like to test himself in the Ardennes next spring, before targeting the Vuelta once again. This time, he’ll be hoping to swap his third place for the top step. 

Thymen Arensman 

Also impressing at this year’s Vuelta was Dutchman Thymen Arensman. Then riding in the colours of Team DSM, Arensman charged up the overall standings in the final week, with a win on the race’s queen stage atop Sierra Nevada. He eventually finished sixth on GC - his best ever three-week performance. 

In 2023, Arensman will move to Ineos Grenadiers as a readymade Grand Tour rider, replacing the departing Richard Carapaz, who is off to EF Education-EasyPost. Though it’s uncertain if he’ll get the chance to lead the team, he certainly has the pedigree to challenge for a podium. 

Josh Tarling

Joining Arensman at Ineos next season will be 18-year-old Josh Tarling. The teenager’s signing was announced back in August, and at the Road World Championships month later, he showcased exactly why he was such a sought after talent. 

In Wollongong, Australia Tarling stormed to his first ever rainbow jersey, winning the junior men’s time trial by 19 seconds. He was then tipped for victory in the road race, but a nasty crash sadly forced him to abandon.

The Welshman won all four time trials he competed in in 2022, so keep an eye on him against the clock next season.  

Zoe Bäckstedt

Zoe Bäckstedt is a once in a generation talent. At just 18 years old, she currently holds four junior world titles across four different disciplines and was crowned Cycling Weekly’s female rider of the year for 2022. 

Bäckstedt started the year strongly, claiming her first cyclo-cross rainbow jersey in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She then travelled to Tel Aviv in the summer where she won gold on the track in the Madison with her partner Grace Lister. 

Her crowning achievement, however, came in September when she did the double at the Road World Championships, taking the junior road and time trial titles. In fact, Bäckstedt’s winning margins in both events were the highest ever recorded in the junior ranks at the championships. 

Next season, the teenager will join American team EF Education-TIBCO-SVB as she looks to find her feet on the WorldTour. She might not win as often as she’s used to, but she’s certain to try a few trademark long-range attacks. 

Sam Watson

21-year-old Sam Watson is the latest Brit to sign a WorldTour contract with French team Groupama FDJ, following in the footsteps of Jake Stewart and Lewis Askey.

This June, Watson earned himself the under-23 British road title at the National Championships in the south west of Scotland. Having broken away from the pack, the then 20-year-old almost took the elite men’s title, but couldn’t get round former world champion Mark Cavendish in a dash to the line. 

Groupama FDJ don’t shy away from throwing their neo pros into big races, so don’t be surprised to see Watson’s punchy, aggressive style light up the Classics.

Alice Towers

Alice Towers was another rider who burst onto the scene at the British National Championships, powering through blustery winds and torrential downpours to take the biggest win of her career. 

Then just 19 years old, Towers launched a brave solo attack in the women’s elite road race and rode 40km on her own to the finish. On the podium, she swapped her sodden team jersey for a brand new national champion’s one. 

Next season, Towers will step up to cycling’s highest level with Canyon-SRAM, a team that’s likely to allow her to race in her favoured offensive way. Donning her special red, white and blue jersey, she won’t be hard to spot in the bunch. 

Arnaud de Lie

In what was a disappointing 2022 season for Lotto Soudal, young Belgian talent Arnaud De Lie provided a much-needed ray of hope. The 20-year-old sprinter managed eight victories in his debut season with the WorldTour squad, with all of them coming in important one-day races. 

In fact, De Lie was so consistent this year that he finished the season sixth in the UCI points rankings, ahead of the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock and Julian Alaphilippe. 

Though Lotto Soudal are set to be relegated to ProTeam level, De Lie will still get a lot of big opportunities on his programme for 2023. Could a first Grand Tour stage win be waiting for him? 

Niamh Fisher-Black 

Team SD Worx’s Niamh Fisher-Black is already maturing into one of the finest climbers in the women’s peloton. The diminutive New Zealander had her strongest season yet in 2022, winning the youth classifications at the Giro Donne and Itzulia Women, before going on to become the under-23 road world champion in Wollongong, Australia. 

With team-mate Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio moving on to AG Insurance-NXTG for 2023, there’s space at SD Worx for a new GC talent to come to the fore, and the coaches won’t need to look far for a replacement. Fisher-Black’s results show that she’s the obvious fit. 

Mattias Skjelmose Jensen

Danish cycling is booming at the moment, and Copenhagen-born Mattias Skjelmose Jensen is one of those riding the wave.

The 22-year-old Trek Segafredo rider completed his first Grand Tour in 2022, finishing a commendable 40th at the Giro d’Italia. The shorter stage races proved more fruitful for him, though, with victory in the Skoda Tour Luxembourg, as well as podiums at the Tour de la Provence, Tour de l’Ain and his native Tour of Denmark. 

A Grand Tour podium might be a stretch too far for Skjelmose Jensen for now, but a top 10 could certainly be on the cards in 2023. 

Matej Mohorič says that it’s only a matter of time before his Bahrain Victorious teammate Fred Wright pulls off a big result and lands a major victory.

After a break-out classics season Wright rode both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España this year and was constantly on the attack at both grand tours. The British rider went agonisingly close to a stage win on several occasions only to be caught in the closing stages of several races. 

His teammate Matej Mohorič told Cycling Weekly that after being so close on a number of occasions, he believes a major win is just around the corner for Wright next year. 

Mohorič said:  “I think it’s just a question of time and luck for him to win his first big race. He’s been so close now on so many occasions. It’s so frustrating for him but he’s a winning guy. He’s got a fast sprint and is a super strong rider for classics style parcours. 

“He’s a great rider and I’m really looking forward to racing with him in the classics next year and also at the Tour.” 

At just 28-years-old, Mohorič is already a proven winner at the highest level. The Slovenian has two Tour de France stage victories to his name as well as a stunning win at Milan-San Remo this year to take his first monument title. 

Mohorič explained to CyclingWeekly that he believes Wright has all the credentials to also win a monument himself. 

“I think he’s proved that he could even win a monument in the future. He’s still very young and is going to have many many chances to come,” Mohorič added. 

After his prestigious win at Milan-San Remo, Mohorič explained that he fully intends to return to the race in 2023 to defend the title, and is planning to build his season around the classics. 

“I think I’m on track for next year,” he said. “I think we plan for me to race a similar programme next year to this year. Building around the classics in the spring, going all the way from San Remo through to Flanders, Roubaix and maybe Liège–Bastogne–Liège.” 

“I’ll then stop and have a small break before building for the Tour, but yes, for sure San Remo will be one of the main goals.”  

The centenary edition of the Lotto Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Gent, or Ghent Six, gets underway tomorrow in Belgium. 

A British theme is already beginning to shine through for the 100th edition of the race with Ethan Hayter and Fred Wright both confirmed to race in the men’s elite category, and Sir Bradley Wiggins firing the official starting shot.

Along with Hayter and Wright, 39-year-old Iljo Keisse will compete in his final Ghent-Six after first racing the competition in 2002. Keisse has won the competition several times and will be partnered by his fellow Belgian Jasper De Buyst. 

As well as Keisse and De Buyst, there are two other all-Belgian duos participating in the upcoming competition. 

Here are four men that we think could help their team win the competition this week and become the 2022 Ghent-Six champions. 

FRED WRIGHT

The South-London born rider has had an impressive season on the road despite not picking up a converted first pro win. 

Fred Wright completed both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España and was continuously at the sharp end of the action in various stages across both. The 23-year-old came away from both grand tours without a stage win but showed all the signs of plenty to come in the future. 

As well as impressing at the Vuelta and Tour, Wright took a silver medal in the men’s time trial at the Commonwealth Games behind winner Rohan Dennis. The Londoner followed up that good showing with fifth in the road race in which he was regularly on the attack. 

His strong season will  make Wright’s team a firm favourite for the Ghent-Six title this week. 

ILJO KEISSE

Thirty-nine -year-old Iljo Keisse has been part of duos that have won the Belgian competition on seven separate occasions making him one of the most prolific winners in the competition's history. He first won the competition in 2005 with the most recent overall victory coming in 2018. 

The prolific Belgian has also competed in multiple grand tours throughout his career with the last one being the Giro d’Italia in 2021. Keisse won a stage of the Giro in 2015 and has spent the last 12 years on the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team. 

This year Keisse will be partnered by fellow Belgian Jasper De Buyst who has also previously won the competition. 

De Buyst, who rides for Lotto-Soudal on the road, has spent most of his career focussed on the track. Keisse partnering with a rider of the 28-year-olds calibre will make them firm favourites for the overall win. 

SILVAN DILLIER

Swiss national road champion Dillier forms a partnership that will be considered relative outsiders compared to Wright & Hayter and Keisse with De Buyst. Although that could work in the Swiss rider's favour along with his Belgian teammate Stijn Steels. 

Dillier, who rides for Alpecin-Deceuninck, has been part of teams that have finished third at the Ghent-Six on two separate occasions meaning that he knows what it takes to compete. 

If Wright & Hayter or the other favourites have an off day then 2022 could be Dillier’s opportunity to finally improve his previous finishes. 

On the road Dillier very nearly added a monument title to his palmares before eventually finishing second to Peter Sagan at the 2018 edition of Paris-Roubaix. He has competed in all three of cycling’s grand tours and won a stage at the 2017 edition of the Giro d’Italia. 

ETHAN HAYTER

Partnering Fred Wright in the Callant team will be fellow Londoner and British star rider Ethan Hayter. 

Hayter has had a superb year on both the road and track, picking up several titles over the course of the last 12 months. The 24-year-old won the Omnium world title at the recent track world championships, which he also won in 2021, and was also part of the British squad that took the world team pursuit title in Paris. 

On the road Hayter took part in his first grand tour at the Vuelta a Espana and won the Tour of Poland overall. He also successfully defended his title as British national time trial champion. 

This was a continuation of Hayter’s scintillating form which saw him win the Tour of Norway as well as finish second to Belgium’s Wout Van Aert at the Tour of Britain.  

Partnering with his fellow-Brit and housemate Fred Wright has all the makings of success at their first appearance in the Ghent-Six. 

FABIO VAN DEN BOSSCHE

One part of the Belgaclima DS Plastics team is Belgian Fabio Van den Bossche. 

The 22-year-old from Ghent will be a favourite amongst the home crowds, even if his team isn’t considered as being one of the favourites for the competition. On the road, the youngster’s career is only in its infancy with van den Bossche having only just signed for Alpecin-Deceuninck earlier this year. 

However van den Bossche is already beginning to build a name for himself on the track. At the recent track world championships he was part of the Belgian madison team that finished third and van den Bossche scored himself 3rd place in the points race. 

At the European track championships in August took the bronze medal in the men’s Madison alongside Belgium’s Robbe Ghys. 

WHAT IS THE GHENT-SIX?

The Ghent-Six is an annual track competition which is held in the north western city of Ghent. 

It gets its name due to the fact that it's a competition spread over six days in the Kuipke velodrome in Ghent. 

The format of six-day racing gained it's popularity in the late 1800s at New York's famous Madison Square Garden - this is where the name Madison comes from - with racing going on for 24 hours over the full six days.

A duo consisting of Belgian Marcel Buysse and Swiss rider Oscar Egg won the first ever edition of the Ghent-Six which was held in 1922. 

Sir Bradley Wiggins has been part of the competition winning team on two occasions. In 2003 Wiggins took the victory with Matthew Gilmore of Belgium and in 2016 he raced alongside Mark Cavendish as they both took the title. 

In 2021 the race was won by Belgians Kenny De Ketele and Robbe Ghys.  

Fred Wright is relaxed and enjoying his time in Australia now he’s got used to the time difference at the road World Championships. 

In a press conference looking ahead to the elite men's road race on Sunday in Wollongong, Wright explained that he's particularly enjoyed setting eyes on wildlife that you wouldn't normally see on the streets of London.

“We’ve had a good laugh on the training rides here, everyone’s been shouting as much as possible every time we see a kangaroo and that’s happened three times,” Wright said. 

After a summer of going close to a maiden grand tour stage win at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, the British rider now has a shot at arguably the biggest prize of the lot, the hallowed rainbow jersey of the road world champion. Wright explained that with all eyes on the pre-race favourites Belgian Wout Van Aert and two-time Tour de France Champion Tadej Pogačar it could provide an opportunity for him to do something special. 

He said: “I think we’ve got a lot of strength in this team and I think we will look at trying to use it whilst the others are looking at each other. That’s kind of the plan. I’ve been in races with them like that stage in the Tour de France where Wout [Van Aert] absolutely ripped it up, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to follow him. 

“A pre-emptive move or something like that is what I’ll be looking to try and do. Wout is the out and out favourite for a course like this, he’s shown in all the races he’s done this year that he’s so strong. It’s almost a bit in our favour that we’re the underdogs though.” 

When asked if he is fully aware of the history and prestige of the rainbow jersey, Wright admitted that as well as pulling on the jersey held by France’s Julian Alaphilippe for the past two years he has his eyes on a new bike painted in the same colours to go along with the new kit that would come with a victory. 

“Everyone dreams of those rainbow bands and being able to wear them the following year. I just think about the nice bike you would then have, in the nice colours and then in the following years would be up on the wall in your house,” he added. 

As well as discussing his own chances, Wright was quick to point out that his teammate and UK housemate Ethan Hayter is looking to be firmly in contention in the sharp end of proceedings in Wollongong. The Londoner also highlighted the new generation of British talent coming through the system leaving British Cycling in a good place. 

He said: “There’s definitely a new generation coming through with us all. You know it’s a shame Tom [Pidcock] couldn’t be here too but me and Ethan [Hayter] plan on having a really good crack on Sunday. There’s so many new pro’s coming through now and it just puts British Cycling in a really good place. I think it’s only going to get better too.” 

Just a few weeks prior to flying to Australia, Wright was involved in an innocuous looking racing incident at the Vuelta a España which resulted in Primož Roglič crashing out of the Spanish Grand Tour. 

The Slovenian and his team Jumbo-Visma later publicly blamed Wright for the crash. Wright explained that initially the incident played on his mind although the outpouring of positivity from the wider cycling community has helped him to put a positive spin on the situation. 

“At the time I had a pretty sleepless night. Although after that 98% of the messages I received were really positive which was nice,” he said. 

He added: “Since then I’ve seen a few memes and stuff saying it’s my fault for random things which are quite funny. I saw that yesterday with the crash with Annemiek van Vleuten someone had photoshopped me in the background which was funny. 

“Most importantly all the guys in the bunch the day after were coming up to me and saying ‘I hope you’re alright mate? That was really really odd from them’ which just made it easier to deal with.” 

The ever-smiling Wright concluded that when he next sees Roglič he’s sure that they’ll have a conversation and move on from the situation. 

Bahrain Victorious has pledged to "stand by" Fred Wright after Primož Roglič and his Jumbo-Visma team publicly blamed him for the crash that ended the Slovenian’s  Vuelta a España challenge.

The Slovenian rider had sat second overall in the Spanish Grand Tour prior to the incident, which saw him sent flying to the ground after a late collision with Wright on stage 16.

On Friday an article appeared on the official website of the Dutch team in which Roglič directly called out Fred Wright, laying the blame firmly at the British riders door for the incident. In the piece the three-time Vuelta winner attributed his fall to Wright’s actions in the sprint. 

He said: “Not everyone saw it correctly. The crash was not caused by a bad road or a lack of safety but by a rider's behaviour. I don't have eyes on my back. Otherwise, I would have run wide. Wright came from behind and rode the handlebars out of my hands before I knew it."

In the run into the line on stage 16, the Slovenian dramatically swung from his line on the front of the select group along with eventual stage winner Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo). The Jumbo-Visma rider eventually moved back into position clashing handlebars with Wright as they both sprinted for the stage win. 

He added: "This was not okay. This shouldn't happen. People move on swiftly as if nothing happened. For me, that doesn't apply. This is not the way I want the sport to continue and I want to make that clear.”

Later this evening Bahrain responded with a statement of its own saying it stood by the 23-year-old Briton.

It said: “Unfortunately crashes are a part of our sport and this isn’t the first, nor will it be the last, even though riders do their best to avoid them. The race footage supports this: our rider does not deviate from his racing line before the incident.

“We also believe that if a team has certain feelings about an incident on the road, the place to take those up is with the commissaires after the stage rather than a statement online some days later.”

Wright himself added: “I don’t think the statement is fair to be honest, as the footage shows it was a simple racing incident, but I also appreciate that Primož was challenging for the red jersey here at La Vuelta. And of course I did send him a private message after the stage to see if he was ok.”

The Londoners team said that statements like the Jumbo one "lead to vitriol and hate" towards riders in the public eye and to see another squad make them was "most disappointing".

It added: "Fred is kind, generous, and incredibly talented. He does not deserve the comments or sentiments that have been directed towards him in recent days."

In the Jumbo-Visma piece Roglič explained that he is now feeling “slightly better” after the incident but was unsure as to whether he can continue racing this year. 

He said: “I can walk a little bit. I am happy with that for the moment. After the crash, it took me time to straighten things out. I asked myself: how can this be? My conclusion is that the way this crash happened is unacceptable. 

Neither Bahrain nor Wright addressed directly the somewhat bizarre way the Jumbo-Visma article had linked the crash suffered by their rider to the wide issue of rider safety. In it team manager Richard Plugge even went as far as to compare the crash to the horrific incident at the 2019 Tour de Pologne between Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider Fabio Jakobsen and Dylan Groenewegen. 

Plugge said: “Research has been done into numerous racing incidents. They have been mapped out in a database. The causes were categorised. Obstacles, for example. As well as 'rider's own fault' or 'other rider's fault'. We are right to talk about unsafe spots in a course, such as the threshold in Burgos. However, research shows that the riders' cycling behaviour is to blame for a crash in about half the cases. Not braking, but pushing through, for example.”

“It doesn't surprise me because every rider has the will to win. I would like to say: brake and use your brains. It requires a change of behaviour, driven by awareness and consistent judging.

Plugge then continued to explain that he was glad the Slovenian was “speaking out” and “naming the behaviour of riders as well”. 

In much of sport success lies in playing the percentages; in calculating and taking controlled risks. As cycling fans we enjoy the riders willing to take a punt on breakaway success in a large part because they seem to ignore this fact.

Their percentage chance of success is always small, the energy expended to gamble on it disproportionately large. Sure they might have even less chance by not attacking but it is a difference of fractions.

If he didn’t know it before, Fred Wright has learned this lesson all too well at this year's Tour de France. Four times he has been in the break, twice he has been the last rider caught and twice he has come within a few hundred metres of his first pro victory.

Stage 19 was the scene of his latest near miss. This time in Cahors he was off the front with 500 metres to go when Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) came charging out of the chasing pack to overtake him. 

Asked if he might attempt yet another long range, long odds move in Paris he smiled the same broad smile that he has worn most of the Tour through the highs and the lows and joked: “I don't think so. Maybe I'll give the bunch sprint a go, I think. I've done my attacking. [After all] the Champs-Élysées is quite hard, harder than you think.”

The Bahrain Victorious rider added: “I just want to get my hands in the air, man. You know, I feel like I'm due one at some point. You keep pushing.”

Wright hadn’t planned to be in that position. “Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) went with a big strong attack on that final climb, the space opened up and I just followed. There were  four guys that attacked but I thought we’re going to need ot do more than this so I just went flat out to the top of the climb.”

Wright said the final grouping of himself Gougeard and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) had worked well together. “We nearly did it, it was maybe possible. But you can only do what you can do. People were asking were you disappointed but you can only do what you can do and to be on the front of the Tour de France is pretty special.”

Plus there were features of the parcours suited a group of escapees. “The roundabouts really helped,” Wright said. “I knew we had those to our advantage in the end. But that drag to the finish if you have a guy with fresh legs like Laporte in the bunch… we were riding for 30km, so what can you do?”

While he was sanguine about the stage result the Londoner was a little upset not to get that day’s combativity prize which went to Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) who had been on the attack earlier in the day. It echoed his Wright’s fate on stage 13 when Mad Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) got the award. “I just wish I had the red numbers, what’s that all about? I know I wasn’t in the early move but they weren’t pulling that hard because they didn't’ have that much of a gap.”

Maybe you should appeal, Cycling Weekly suggested. “I think I might,” Wright responded, tongue firmly in his cheek.

Wright looks set to leave this Tour still crazing the stage win he desires, but he has shown all the attributes he needs to get one. Those breakaway long odds look like they’re creeping down incrementally in his favour.

It is difficult to stop Fred Wright smiling. Even after he came second at his first chance of winning a stage of the Tour de France, he still had enough energy to raise a wry smile.

The Londoner spent the entire day in the break on the Tour’s 192km thirteenth stage to Saint-Étienne and was second in the final three-up sprint behind Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and ahead of Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech).

The 23 year-old, who is riding his second Tour, said he was “gutted” to lose out in the final but that second was still “pretty good”. “Fair play to Mads he was super strong,” he said.

Reflecting on his plan to win the Bahrain Victorious rider said: “I needed to attack on the last climb. That tempo was as hard as I could go and as soon as I got over it I was like ‘Damn it’s going to be a sprint and I'm not going to be able to beat him.’” 

He said he hadn’t expected Pedersen to attack on the final climb and that although he could follow the move and close the gap to the Dane he wasn’t able to up the pace further.

“I just needed that little bit of extra strength,” he said, a touch of regret creeping into his voice. “I nearly did it.”

Wright declined the opportunity to blame his missing out on the heat, which hit 34 degrees Celsius at points during the day. “When you’ve got ice and bottles from the car in the break, it’s actually easier than being in the bunch,” he said.

Breakout year

This year has been a further step up from his performances in 2021 where he mostly fulfilled team duties at the Tour de France. In 2022 He came into the Tour after a breakthrough classics campaign that saw him net a top ten place at the Tour of Flanders and racking up a strong ride at Paris-Nice.

However his Tour preparation was compromised by a bout of Covid in the weeks leading up to the July race around France.  

Today was Wright’s third time in the breakaway at the Tour after a first attempt in the race’s first week in France. Then on stage eight he ended up as the last rider ahead of the peloton and was only swallowed up with 3km left to go. He was then again in the break on stage 10 but was distanced before the finish.

Now he has a Tour de France stage podium finish to his name too.

When asked about what he felt was behind the progress he’d made he said, smiling again: “It's funny, it's only small percentages, you're 2% better and all of a sudden things get easier. You're just not breathing so hard so you can focus on what tactics to play.”

Wright added: “I’m learning every time. I did it better this time than last time and I'll do better next time. Hopefully there will be next time. Maybe not this Tour, but at some point there will be a next time.”

When that time comes and he goes one place better the smile won’t need to be bitter sweet.

Every day at the Tour de France, a combativity prize is awarded to the most aggressive rider of the stage, decided by a jury. This is not always clear the viewer at home, or the fan on the roadside, but it does mean something. It's not only some time on the podium, or €2000 in prize money, or even red numbers for the next stage; it's some recognition for a big effort.

Some stages this is obvious, like Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) on stage six, when the Belgian was up the road in the yellow jersey for 146km, or when it was the Magnus Cort show for a couple of days. However, other days it is a bit more puzzling, and tends to be awarded to French rider more than others, perhaps just because of their numerical advantage at the race.

Now, imagine spending almost four hours out the front of a bike race, to be the last one to be caught, only to be rewarded with nothing at the end of the day. That is exactly what happened to Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) on stage eight of the Tour, with the young man from London spending 172km up the road from the bunch, only to finish 77th in the end. 

He didn't even get the combativity prize, it being awarded to Mattia Cattaneo (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), his break colleague for almost all of the day's escape, before Wright dropped him at the end.

Rolling back to the bus almost four minutes after Wout van Aert won the sprint in Lausanne, the 23-year-old seemed reasonably chipper for a man who ended the day with nothing after putting all that work in, apart from being gutted not to get the red dossards for tomorrow.

"I think they must have decided when Cattaneo gave up," he said. I'm a bit disappointed with that to be honest. I kinda thought with 5km to go that at least I'd have the red number, but what can you do, it was a good day out anyway."

Maybe Wright is a big fan of Louis Pasteur, whose 200th birthday was being celebrated by his hometown of Dole on Saturday morning, as this was one as he had marked for a chance. Sadly he didn't comment on his love of germ theory, but who knows.

"I targeted this stage as a day to go for the breakaway," he explained afterwards. "You follow moves, you're there, and you realise there's only three of you. I was a bit gutted. I think there was some people coming across, well I thought people were coming across, but unfortunately not. Once you're there, you're there. It was a long day out but I enjoyed it."

He might be yet to take a professional win, but Wright has impressed at a number of races, especially at the Tour of Flanders this year, where he finished seventh. He has clearly been given some licence by his Bahrain team to try things, along with teammates like Matej Mohorič, Jan Tratnik and Dylan Teuns.

"There's obviously a lot of us here that want to take opportunities," he said. "We still have Damiano for the GC, but there are some more days for me and the other guys to really have a crack and trying to get a stage win....

"It's not just a simple thing of 'oh get yourself in the break'. It was pretty straightforward today, but often there's a big fight for the days the guys want to get in the breakaway. The decision often just makes itself, because Matej [Mohorič] will be trying, Jan [Tratnik] will be trying, I'll be trying. You can all be committed. Sometimes you end up with two guys in a big break."

Wright was in a break at last year's Tour as well, on stage 16 to Saint-Gaudens, where he finished 12th, but this one was different as he was the last one up the road. Also, this year has seen huge crowds on the route in a semi-post-Covid world, a change from last year.

"I can't describe it really, I don't think it has sunk in to be honest," he said. "It's pretty special to be there, and there's plenty more days to come, more breakaways, and I'll hopefully take some more opportunities."

Sadly for the Londoner, and his break companions Cattaneo and Frederik Frison (Lotto Soudal), the peloton always looked like it had the day under control and never let the three men go, although they did try some tactics.

"We had a nice relaxed period, Cattaneo made the call and it was a good one, we chilled for about 10km, and then he drilled it," Wright explained. "I was really on board with that. You gain back time, and then it was flat out to the finish."

In the end, three men were just not enough to keep the might of the peloton at bay, but that won't stop him from trying, especially as he was capable of doing something in a reduced sprint.

"On that finish, I'm not going to beat the likes of Van Aert from the bunch, but from a break I fancy my chances on a day like today," he said. "The break just wasn't big enough, but ah well, what can you do."

You can read more of Fred Wright's thoughts at the Tour de France in his Cycling Weekly diary, out in the magazine every Thursday.

Fred Wright is a young man with a promising future in the sport of cycling. He finished seventh at this year's Tour of Flanders, and is embarking on his second Tour de France. This should be an exciting time for him, proving his mettle for his WorldTour team on the biggest stage in cycling.

And yet. Last Thursday, his Bahrain Victorious team hotel was raided by police the day before the start of the Tour. It followed some of its riders and staff members having had their homes searched by police prior to their departure last week - Wright was not one of them. In 2021, Bahrain also had their Tour hotel searched by police late in the race.

That's two Tours de France, and two experiences of waking up to welcome police into his room.

“It’s a tricky one,” Wright explained to Cycling Weekly and Cycling Tips. “As a 23-year-old rider I don’t think I should have experienced two police raids in my career but that’s the unfortunate truth of it.

“It was a surprise but I saw Jack [Haig] already say the Danish police were really friendly, they were doing what they had to do, it didn’t take very long. 30-45 minutes searching around the room and then they were out of our hair."

The team said in a statement on Thursday morning that "the search was completed within two hours" and that "no items were seized from the team." Reports later that week suggested things were taken, but this might have been in the searches earlier that week.

“In the end it wasn’t that bad,” Wright explained. “They came in the morning, I went back to sleep, it felt like a bit of a bad dream. It is what it is thanks to the history of the sport that we’re in this position."

For now, Bahrain Victorious and Wright are just focusing on the here and now, which is just continuing with the Tour de France.

“If they want to go through these raids just to confirm that everyone’s clean then that’s what they’ve got to do. It’s been really nice that the morale has slowly been creeping up in the team because we’re racing our bikes now, we’re doing our job so happy days.”

The 23-year-old is not thinking of challenging for stage wins just yet, instead focusing on helping out his team.

"We'll see how this first week goes," he said. "I think this first week is really important for us, just to focus on getting our GC leaders out of trouble, unscathed. That's the main goal for the first few days. Then after that, we'll see if the bunch de stresses and everyone gets a bit more relaxed. The focus is on these stressful days."

For each article in this long-running WATT WORKS FOR ME series from Cycling Weekly's print edition, we ask a pro rider about their favourite things in training: what has helped them most in getting to where they are today.  The aim is to get to the heart of the beliefs and preferences they hold dear when it comes to building form, maximising fitness and ultimately achieving results. For this edition, we speak to Fred Wright... 

You live near Manchester and share a house with Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls – a good training environment?

It was actually really good in lockdown, having others to train with who could push you on. I don’t think there were many riders who had that situation, so I was quite lucky really. For me, lockdown didn’t seem that bad – compared to some riders not even being allowed to go outside.

Your first race back post-lockdown was Strade Bianche (1 August 2020). How did it go?

To be honest, I was a little bit disappointed [to DNF], it being such a big race. I got a bit unlucky and then I just didn't have anything in the heat. I was cooked really early on, and that was me done for the day. My Garmin recorded 42ºC, and I’d never raced in that kind of heat before – being from the UK doesn’t help sometimes!

How did you get started in cycling?

It was just something my dad recommended for the summer holidays, to fill my time as a nine- or 10-year-old. I was pretty young, but just loved it straight away.

And when did you get more serious about it?

Around the age of 14 or 15, when I got selected for the [British Cycling] Talent Team. When all that started to happen, I was like, ‘Wow, I’m pretty good at this’. From then on, I stayed with British Cycling until last year [upon signing for CCC].

Who was most influential in shaping you as a rider?

Probably older youth riders – [in VC Londres] there was always someone I'd ride with and race against as mates, someone to keep trying to be better than. I was never the top guy, and I think that really helped, as I was always aspiring to be like that person who was a bit older than me. And now it’s me and Ethan [Hayter] and Jacob [Vaughan] who are inspiring the younger guys – it’s an ongoing cycle. Also, my first coach Stuart Blunt was a really important influence. His training was never very specific or super-structured – I didn’t have a power meter as a junior – as it was more about riding according to your own feelings, and that’s something I’ll always keep with me.

Is that the way you still prefer to train?

I guess it depends; what with being in the [Bahrain-Victorious] setup now, there are times when you have to get your really specific hours done and ride to certain powers. But when I have a general ride to do, most of the time I do just ride it on feel – and if the watts are a bit higher than usual, then great, and if not, it doesn’t matter. It annoys me every time I get frustrated that I don’t have my Garmin – I have to remind myself that all I’ve got to do is ride my bike!

RIDER PROFILE: FRED WRIGHT

Age: 22

Height: 6ft 1in

Weight: 75kg

Lives: Manchester

Rides for: Bahrain-Victorious  

Best results: 7th – Tour of Flanders (2022)

1st – Stage 4, Tour de l'Avenir (2019) 

1st – Madison, UK National Track Champs (2019)

Twitter: @fred_wright0

Instagram: fred.w

There might not be a win just yet, but Fred Wright can feel one coming. The Bahrain-Victorious rider was up there among the best at Paris-Nice, finishing in the top-10 twice in the opening three stages and impressed in the time trial too, coming 13th.

“I can see it happening hopefully, I don't know when, I don't know where but I'm always going to be pushing,” the 22-year old told Cycling Weekly in a rainy Nice at the end of the eight-day stage race.

>>> Five things we learned from Paris-Nice 2022

Wright finished eighth on the first stage after Jumbo-Visma performed their coup and took the podium away from everyone else; in effect, he was fourth in the sprint behind Mads Pedersen of Trek-Segafredo. On stage three, Wright was again behind the Dane as he won in Dun-le-Palestel, but he was one of the punchier riders who survived on a testing course as other sprinters did not make the finish.

On the stage four time trial, Wright came 13th, ahead of established time triallists like Luke Durbridge and Dylan van Baarle; it was in fact his best time trial result at WorldTour level.

“I'm really happy with the legs, we've got Jack [Haig] up here on GC (he finished sixth overall), but I've been given my own chances, especially since Sonny [Colbrelli] was out at the start of the race,” the Londoner explained.

“It has been a good week and I'm really happy,” Wright explained. “It has been hard racing all the time, but I've been happy to be up there. The gap is smaller than it has been in the past, I can see it happening hopefully, I don't know when, I don't know where but I'm always going to be pushing. 

“I'm settling myself into the team well and I know where I might be given opportunities, especially with the Classics coming up there's so much racing. I'm looking forward to it.”

Next, he will ride Milan-San Remo at the weekend, where he will one of the options Bahrain-Victorious have alongside Matej Mohorič and Sonny Colbrelli, if he recovers from illness.

Wright raced the Monument last year as well, but feels in better shape for it this time around.

“I'm now going to do San Remo next weekend, I wasn't originally going to do it,” he said “I did it last year but it was almost too much with the amount of racing at the start of the season, but actually this year I'm happy with where I'm at and I'm not too tired, and I think it should be good.”

On this form, he might find a way to win sooner rather than later. One other thing he has on his side is luck, being one of the resolute 59 who finished the race in Nice. His team was down to just three riders before the end, and the mass abandonments meant Wright actually ended up finishing 30th overall.

“I was rooming with Gino Mäder and he got the same illness everyone else has got, luckily I seem to have been alright,” he said. “I'm obviously going to have to take it super easy after this race because it has been hard. I think maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones to be honest.

“Maybe the third of the guys that aren't here are just unlucky. Fingers crossed I'll avoid all covid and whatever else this bug is that's going round.”

Ahead of the final stage, Wright was just focusing on keeping warm and staying upright, which was easier said than done on a torrid day on the Côte d’Azur. 

“Staying warm today, that's the priority,” he told Cycling Weekly. “It's going to be easy enough to stay warm on the climbs, but I don't know about when I eventually get dropped and ride into the finish. And stay upright too.”

Fortunately, he managed to finish, coming in just six minutes behind Simon Yates, the stage winner. Now, he will head onto the Classics and hopefully a win that might come soon.

British rider Fred Wright took to Twitter to share an x-ray of a broken collarbone he suffered while training with his Bahrain Victorious team-mates in Altea, Spain.

The Bahrain-based team were training in the municipality located in the Alicante province preparing for the 2022 season with a full compliment of riders on their roster. However, the 22-year-old unfortunately broke his right collarbone after crashing on one of the training rides.

Wright said on Twitter: "Fancied a new collarbone plate for Christmas. Still had a great time on camp, guess it's just a few extra easy days over the festive period then back to it in January."

>>> 'I know I'll be back stronger': World Scratch champion undergoes successful heart surgery

The Briton will undergo surgery next week just a couple of days after Christmas, but he expects to be able to join up with Bahrain Victorious as the team's preparations start to ramp up. 

Wright joined Bahrain Victorious for the 2020 season, after a short spell with UCI WorldTeam CCC Team - now Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux - from August 2019 until the end of that year.

The 22-year-old won stage four of the Giro d'Italia Virtual in April 2020, held amid the Covid-19 pandemic. He also raced in the 2020 Vuelta a España, with his best finish coming on the fifteenth stage, where he placed fourth. 

Wright enjoyed a successful 2021 season, winning the National Under-23 Road Championships, while also placing second in the road race at the National Championships and fourth in the time trial. He was also the youngest rider at this year's Tour de France. 

He also finished third on the third stage of the Tour of Hungary, and picked up a notable tenth-place at Eschborn-Frankfurt. 

Team Bahrain Victorious have strengthened their roster for the upcoming season too, bringing in Filip Macijuk, Luis León Sánchez, Johan Price-Pejtersen, Alejandro Osorio, Jasha Sütterlin and Edoardo Zambanini. Meanwhile, Marco Haller is the only departure so far.

The team took five Grand Tour stages in 2021 as well as a podium at the Vuelta with Jack Haig. Not to mention Sonny Colbrelli's Paris-Roubaix, European road race and Benelux overall victories. Bahrain Victorious will head into 2022 full of confidence and optimism.