Fred Wright (cyclist)

Last updated

Fred Wright
Fred Wright (2023).jpg
Wright, Gent. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2023.
Personal information
Full nameAlfred Brockwell Wright
NicknameFred
Born (1999-06-13) 13 June 1999 (age 24)
London, England
Height1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight75 kg (165 lb)
Team information
Current team Team Bahrain Victorious
Disciplines
  • Road
  • Track
RoleRider
Rider type Classics specialist, Rouleur, breakaway specialist, domestique [1]
Amateur teams
2018–2019100% Me
2019 CCC Team (stagiaire)
Professional team
2020– Bahrain–McLaren [2]
Major wins
One-day races and Classics
National Road Race Championships (2023)
Medal record
Men's road bicycle racing
Representing Flag of England.svg  England
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2022 Birmingham Time trial

Alfred Brockwell Wright (born 13 June 1999) is a British racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Bahrain Victorious. [3]

Contents

Career

Originally from south east London, Wright moved to Manchester at the age of 18 to join the British Cycling Senior Academy, with a focus on the track. [1] In August 2019, Wright joined UCI WorldTeam CCC Team as a stagiaire for the second half of the season. [4]

In November 2019 it was announced that Wright was joining the Bahrain–Merida team, later renamed as Bahrain–McLaren for the 2020 season. [2] He was recruited to the team by Rod Ellingworth, the outfit's general manager, who had previously worked for the British Cycling Senior Academy. [1] In April 2020 Wright won stage four of the Giro d'Italia Virtual, held during the Covid-19 crisis that stopped outdoor cycling races. In October 2020, he was named in the startlist for the 2020 Vuelta a España. [5] At the Vuelta he placed fourth on the fifteenth stage of the race. [1]

2022

2022 was a breakthrough season for Wright as he took a top-10 at the Tour of Flanders from the breakaway. At the Tour de France Wright was again an active breakaway rider, recording two top-10s from the break including a 2nd place, and then in the penultimate stage's 40.7km individual time trial, Wright managed 8th place. At the Commonwealth Games a few weeks after the end of the Tour de France, Wright won a Silver medal in the individual time trial event, behind Rohan Dennis, but beating a pre-race favourite, Geraint Thomas. Cyclingnews.com commented on Wright's 2022 season that "[t]he Vuelta a España was confirmation that Wright seems to be getting better and better this summer, bothering the top reaches of the results sheets in breakaways and bunch sprints", and tipped him as a contender for the World Championships road race for 2022. [6]

2022 Vuelta and controversy

At the 2022 Vuelta a España, Wright scored, via sprint finishes and breakaways, seven top-10 stage results, including three top-3 results, but didn't manage to win a stage. During the race he was the subject of controversy: during the closing kilometres of Stage 16, a small group of four, including Wright, followed Primož Roglič, then placed second in the General Classification, as he attacked out of the peloton. As the lead quintet sprinted for the win, Roglič collided with Wright, causing the former to crash heavily while the latter was able to stay upright. Roglič crossed the line with several cuts on his right side. [7] Two days later, Roglič issued a statement via his team: “My conclusion is that the way this crash happened is unacceptable. 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." [8] This statement was criticised by other riders and teams. [9] Roglič's fellow Slovene Matej Mohorič defended Wright, saying "It's not appropriate and it's not fair to make a statement like that toward Fred [...] I think if you ask the peloton, everyone will tell you that Primož is more eager to push for position than Fred. We know that Primož crashes a lot and this is not the first time this happened." [10]

2023

On 25 June 2023, Wright earned his first professional victory, winning the elite men's race at the British National Road Race Championships, [11] three days after a silver medal in the elite men's time trial. [12]

Personal life

As of 2021, Wright lived in Manchester, sharing a house with fellow racing cyclist Ethan Hayter. [1]

Major results

Road

2016
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Junior Tour of Wales
5th Overall Trofeo Karlsberg
1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
2017
3rd Overall Junior Tour of Wales
1st Jersey polkadot.svg Mountains classification
2018
2nd Road race, National Under-23 Championships
2nd Overall Ronde de l'Oise
1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
1st Stage 3
5th Road race, National Championships
7th Overall Paris–Arras Tour
2019
1st Stage 4 Tour de l'Avenir
1st Stage 7 Giro Ciclistico d'Italia
3rd Overall Paris–Arras Tour
5th Time trial, National Under-23 Championships
2021
1st MaillotReinoUnido.PNG Road race, National Under-23 Championships
National Championships
2nd Road race
4th Time trial
10th Eschborn–Frankfurt
2022
Commonwealth Games
2nd Silver medal blank.svg Time trial
5th Road race
7th Tour of Flanders
Vuelta a España
Held Jersey white.svg after Stage 5
2023 (1 pro win)
National Championships
1st MaillotReinoUnido.PNG Road race
2nd Time trial
8th Tour of Flanders

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour 2020202120222023
Jersey pink.svg Giro d'Italia ————
Jersey yellow.svg Tour de France — 96 55 92
Jersey red.svg Vuelta a España 91 — 67

Monuments results timeline

Monument2020202120222023
Milan–San Remo — 148 — 79
Tour of Flanders DNF 112 7 8
Paris–Roubaix NH 51 99 DNF
Liège–Bastogne–Liège ————
Giro di Lombardia ———
Legend
—Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

Track

2015
1st MaillotReinoUnido.PNG Madison, National Junior Championships (with Ethan Hayter)
2016
1st European champion jersey 2016.svg Team pursuit, UEC European Junior Championships
3rd Madison, National Championships (with Jake Stewart)
3rd Madison, National Junior Championships (with Ethan Hayter)
2017
UEC European Junior Championships
1st European champion jersey 2016.svg Omnium
2nd Silver medal europe.svg Team pursuit
1st Junior Six Days of Berlin (with Jake Stewart)
National Junior Championships
2nd Individual pursuit
2nd Madison (with Jacob Vaughan)
2nd Points race
2018
1st European champion jersey 2016.svg Team pursuit, UEC European Under-23 Championships
National Championships
1st MaillotReinoUnido.PNG Madison (with Matt Walls)
1st MaillotReinoUnido.PNG Team pursuit
3rd Points race
UCI World Cup
2nd Madison, London (with Matt Walls)
3rd Team pursuit, London
2019
1st European champion jersey 2016.svg Madison, UEC European Under-23 Championships (with Matt Walls)
National Championships
1st MaillotReinoUnido.PNG Madison (with Rhys Britton)
2nd Omnium
2nd Team pursuit
3rd Madison, UCI World Cup, Hong Kong (with Mark Stewart)
2020
2nd Omnium, National Championships

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jary, Rachel (7 May 2021). ""This is a really cool job" Bahrain Victorious' Fred Wright on his first Grand Tour". Rouleur . Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  2. 1 2 Ostanek, Daniel (26 December 2019). "2020 Team Preview: Bahrain McLaren". Cyclingnews.com . Future plc . Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Bahrain Victorious". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "CCC Team". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  5. ↑ "75th La Vuelta ciclista a España: Startlist". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  6. ↑ "2022 UCI Road World Championships – 10 riders to watch in the elite men's road race". cyclingnews.com. 22 September 2022.
  7. ↑ Friend, Luke (6 September 2022). "Vuelta a España 2022: Mads Pedersen wins stage 16 as Primož Roglič crashes as he contests the sprint finish". CyclingWeekly. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  8. ↑ "Primoz Roglic blames Fred Wright for causing 'unacceptable' crash at La Vuelta Espana 2022". Eurosport UK. 9 September 2022.
  9. ↑ "Primož Roglič and Jumbo-Visma release much-criticised statement blaming Fred Wright for Vuelta crash". road.cc. 10 September 2022.
  10. ↑ "Mohoric defends teammate Fred Wright after Roglic crash accusations". cyclingnews.com. 11 September 2022.
  11. ↑ "British National Road Championships: Fred Wright pays tribute to Gino Mader". BBC Sport. 25 June 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "British National Road Championships: Tarling becomes youngest time trial champion". BBC Sport. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
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