When Bahrain Victorious lined up at the start of the Tour de France boasting a lineup of GC contenders Jack Haig and Damiano Caruso and past stage winners Dylan Teuns, Matej Mohorič, and Luis León Sánchez, few would've expected third-year pro Fred Wright to end the Tour as their most impressive performer.
That's no disrespect to the Briton, who turned 23 in June and who scored a top 10 at the Tour of Flanders back in April. Rather he was expected by most to fulfil a similar domestique role to the one he occupied last July.
Instead, the Londoner has now come close to a stage win at the Tour three times, the latest being his breakaway attempt on stage 19 to Cahors.
The end of the breakaway during the blisteringly quick stage came at 35km from the line, before the final throes of Quinn Simmons' attacking was replaced four kilometres later by Wright, Simmon's Trek-Segafredo teammate Jasper Stuyven, and Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM).
The trio were never allowed more than 30 seconds on the lumpy run to the uphill sprint finish, but they pushed it almost all the way to the end, with Wright the last man standing as stage winner Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) swept past 500 metres from the finish.
"I mean, they were asking 'oh are you disappointed?', but you know, I was just trying to go, just trying to see what I could do," Wright told Cyclingnews as he rode up the hill past the finish line to his team bus.
"Like, I'm not going to win the bunch kick against Jasper [Philipsen, second on the stage] and these guys. So, I saw the opportunity and I went for it and didn't look back until the end. But yeah, it wasn't to be, man."
Wright, along with Stuyven and Gougeard, took advantage of a lull in proceedings after the early break had been caught inside the final fifth of the 188.3km stage, which was run at an intense average of over 48kph.
Tadej Pogačar had been among a cluster of riders to try something on the hills in the interim, but it was Gougeard who provoked the attack that stuck out front, with Wright and then Stuyven tacking on the back before the trio pushed on ahead of the peloton.
"Well, Gougeard went first, and I was like 'ooh OK, people are trying to get away from the sprinters here' on this last climb," Wright said. "I was a bit far back, but sometimes that's better and the space opened up and I just went for it. I think when it's a bit of a climb the sprinter's teams aren't keen to really press on.
"So, they sort of gave us the gap and then, actually, you could rest a little bit on that descent and then just push onto the finish. It's a shame, man.
"The roads were just too sticky – just too sticky. Like if it was a bit more tailwind… I didn't think we had any more climbs left at the end and we were going up and down and I was like, now this is easier for a bunch to catch just back. It was difficult, but I'm happy."
Wright pushed on at the front of the three-man group as they hit the final rise to the line, but he'd be foiled once again at the finish, this time as Laporte sped past to finish off the work of his team, including green jersey Wout van Aert.
"I thought I made a mistake, you know," Wright said of his final push. "I kind of was going, looked behind, and there was a gap, and I was like 'well, I've kind of got to go now'. I knew the bunch was coming, so I just committed to it, but yeah, fair play to Laporte – he came around with some speed. He's got legs.
An 18th place in the peloton behind the Frenchman was Wright's eventual reward for his efforts, a ride which will sit along his last man standing effort in Lausanne, where he was caught on the final climb, and his second place behind Mads Pedersen in Saint-Etienne.
He's certainly been the most visible of his Bahrain Victorious team at this year's race, with the team having suffered several Europol raids ahead of the start in Denmark. Last July, the squad scored three stage wins and a top 10 overall placing, but Wright's rides have been the closest they've come to glory this time around.
"I'll give the sprint a go there and see what happens," Wright added, when Cyclingnews asked if that was his last chance to win at this year's Tour. "But this Tour has been great for me so I'm super happy.
"Obviously, I'm gutted that [the win] hasn't come. But I've got plenty of years left. The problem is that now people will realise – I can't surprise anyone so much now. So yeah, we'll have to see, but I'm super happy, man."
