'I was in the front, then I was in the last group' - Fred Wright's big day out on Tour de France stage 12

British champion says he "completely exploded" after trying to stay in winning move on road to Belleville-en-Beaujolais

Fred Wright rides on the front of the 2023 Tour de France peloton
(Image credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images)

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.

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Adam Becket
News editor

Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.

Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.