For a second day in a row, Fred Wright wasn't content settling for a bit part in this year's edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Bahrain Victorious rider finished second on the stage into Issoire behind former teammate and Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).
Wright has a rare level of versatility that allowed him to spring a late attack and hold a 30-second advantage over the final rolling hills of yesterday's opener, but also contest today's bunch sprint with a rider well above his weight category and place ahead of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The 25-year-old is all too aware that he's not the fastest rider in the field, and has to be inventive – like yesterday's late raid – if he's to finally crack a WorldTour win, but couldn't fault his own performance aside from finishing one place off the top step.
"It worked pretty perfectly. [Rob Stannard] put me right next to Lidl-Trek, right on [Milan's] wheel. I've been a teammate of Jonny's, and this guy's unbelievable, like just to hold his wheel, it's better than what I used to do on training camps. So I'll take that," Wright said.
However, the former British national road champion couldn't hide his frustration at coming so close to a long-awaited win.
"I'm happy to have executed it. It's just, you know, I can be up there, but it's winning these bike races. That's the hard part," he said to press at the finish.
Hot weather and a jagged route on plenty of narrow roads made for a testing day of racing, but Wright was buoyed by his legs still managing to serve him well.
"That 3km climb [the Côte du Château de Buron] was kind of grim, but, after a hard day, I've still got a decent sprint. There's not a big sprinter field here, [so] it's more about being patient, rather than being in the front perfectly."
To add to a testing route in warm conditions, the already emerging battle between the GC teams of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike added extra spice, whether other teams wanted it or not.
"It's a weird style of racing, to be honest. It's like, 'Oh, who can be the first on the downhill ahead of the other team?' It just makes it hard to be honest. We were riding up that climb for no reason," he remarked.
Should Wright's legs recover well overnight, he could have an immediate chance to redeem his close call when the Critérium du Dauphiné heads east and closer to the Alps with another punchy profile on stage 3.
