Fred Wright must keep doing what he’s doing and the big win will come soon in La Vuelta

Watching a Fred Wright interview immediately after a race is a joy to behold. Few cycling fans will forget the 23-year-old Londoner’s emotional reaction to Matt Stephens’ kind words after Stage 19 of the Tour de France in July, when Wright came within striking distance of contesting for the win in Cahors after a spirited counter-attack inside the final hour of racing.

After being congratulated by Stephens for his strong form and for being “one of the main protagonists of the race,” Wright, welling up and with a slight wobble in his voice, replied with borderline disbelief: “The fact you can say that is mad, man – yeah, cheers.” Ad “But you have,” Stephens insisted. “You’ve animated the race – you’ve rode with charisma, verve and panache, and you’ve done you and your team proud.

That win isn’t going to be far away.” Vuelta a España'My legs were almost too good' – Wright gutted after another near-miss43 MINUTES AGO “Yeah, I hope so,” Wright laughed. “I hope so.” That win almost came on Wednesday when the Bahrain Victorious all-rounder found himself part of a strong breakaway that took a whopping 74km to form as the race rampaged along the Atlantic coast past San Sebastian and then headed inland for a succession of climbs ideally suited to Wright’s strengths.

'My legs were almost too good' – Wright gutted after another near-miss Soler powers to Stage 5 win to end Spanish drought, Molard takes red Stage 5 as it happened: Soler holds on as Molard denies Wright red There was just one problem: the presence of Frenchman Rudy Molard who, just four seconds to the better of Wright in the general classification, had his eyes on the red jersey he wore for four days four years ago back in 2018. Of all the 17 other riders in the break,