Fred Wright (cyclist)

Fred Wright
	Wright, Gent. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2023.
Personal information
Full name	Alfred Brockwell Wright
Nickname	Fred
Born	13 June 1999 (age 25); London, England
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Team information
Current team	Team Bahrain Victorious
Disciplines	Road; Track;
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist, Rouleur, breakaway specialist, domestique
Amateur teams
2018–2019	100% Me
2019	CCC Team (stagiaire)
Professional team
2020–	Bahrain–McLaren
Major wins
	One-day races and Classics National Road Race Championships (2023)
Medal record
Men's road bicycle racing
Representing England
Commonwealth Games

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

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 40.7 km 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

His father is actor Philip Wright.^[13] As of 2021, Wright lived in Manchester, sharing a house with fellow racing cyclist Ethan Hayter.^[1]

Major results

Road

2016

1st

Overall Junior Tour of Wales

5th Overall Trofeo Karlsberg

1st

Young rider classification

2017

3rd Overall Junior Tour of Wales

1st

Mountains classification

2018

2nd Road race, National Under-23 Championships

2nd Overall Ronde de l'Oise

1st

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

Road race, National Under-23 Championships

National Championships

2nd Road race

4th Time trial

10th Eschborn–Frankfurt

2022

2nd

5th Road race

Held

after Stage 5

2023 (1 pro win)

National Championships

1st

Road race

2nd Time trial

8th Tour of Flanders

2024

3rd Overall CRO Race

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Giro d'Italia	—	—	—	—	—
Tour de France	—	96	55	92	DNF
Vuelta a España	91	—	67	—

Monuments results timeline

Monument	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Milan–San Remo	—	148	—	79	30
Tour of Flanders	DNF	112	7	8	50
Paris–Roubaix	NH	51	99	DNF	12
Liège–Bastogne–Liège	—	—	—	—	—
Giro di Lombardia	—	—	—	—