This article was first published in Rouleur Issue 140

Fred Wright’s plans have been derailed. He’s sitting in the lobby of his race hotel in Montréal, Canada, but he never should have been here at all. The call up to this duo of WorldTour one-day events in Québec came at the last minute – so last minute that he was already on a flight back to his house in Spain from the Tour of Britain, before turning back around as soon as he landed. He’s the replacement for his teammate who dropped out due to illness, and this event is another addition to a long 13day race block for the British rider, who admits the fatigue is settling in his legs. Wright, though, is still smiling. This is the 26-year-old’s fifth season as a professional cyclist, but his enthusiasm for what he does is showing no signs of dwindling.

“I guess I’ve got quite a positive attitude,” he says with a shrug and toothy grin. “I massively appreciate what I’m doing and what I’m able to do.”

For Wright, this is the dream. It always has been, ever since he cut his teeth riding around London’s Herne Hill Velodrome and the country lanes of Kent as a ten year old. There was the journey through British Cycling’s development programme as a teenager, the stand-out performances as an under-23 rider at races like the Tour l’Avenir, then the golden ticket to the professional ranks in the form of a stagiaire stint with CCC Team. The big contract came with Bahrain-McLaren in 2020 and, by then, Wright had really made it. He rode that year alongside Mark Cavendish, leading out one of his sporting heroes in the biggest bike races on the planet.

Now five years later, Wright could be classed as enough of a seasoned pro to grumble regarding the extra days away from home, or the long hours on the plane that a late call-up to race in Canada comes with, but he’s adamant he still has nothing to complain about.

“It’s an easy job, I’m still so up for it and I’m happy to be here. I said to my sports director about how much I wanted to do the Tour of Britain, even though I knew this whole race block would be really intense, which is a sign of how keen I still am,” he comments. “I loved racing in Britain and I’m always so glad I get to do things like that. Now I’ve ended up in Canada which is not a bad thing!”

Read more: Canada calling: What to expect from the 2026 Montréal Worlds

As we speak, a gaggle of Visma-Lease a Bike riders, including Wout van Aert, walk past our table and catch Wright’s eye:

“It’s like that, you see all the riders in the same hotel as you and there’s probably still a little part of me that thinks how cool that is, even though I know in the end I’m on a level with them,” he says with a smile.

We should not forget that this is a bike rider who has finished second in stages of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, was British national champion in 2023 and been in the top-ten of both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Wright has had a taste of life at the top, but his enduring enthusiasm for what he does comes from remembering what it was like before he got here.

Image: Véronique Rolland

“At the Tour of Britain it was quite full circle, actually, because of the amount of trips I did to the Newport velodrome growing up. To be there doing the biggest race in the country now, it was probably one of the most special days of the year,” he reflects. “I was saying to the team ‘you know, I used to come here and this is the track, these are the roads I raced on as a junior.’”

Wright describes fans by the sides of the roads in Wales holding signs with his name on and asking for selfies. It doesn’t feel like so long ago, he muses, that he was on the other side of those barriers.

“Even this race at the end of the season in Canada, the older guys on my team were saying you could come here and have a beer back in 2019, like it was super relaxed. You can’t do that now”

“When I was a kid going to watch the Tour of Britain, if one of the pros gave you a bottle it made your day,” he says. “I think sometimes when you’re racing, you don’t realise that you can actually do a lot with being friendly and giving a bottle. If that happened to me when I was that age, it made it the coolest trip ever.”

“So you’re really living the dream then, Fred?” I say back to him when he finishes recounting memories of seeing his family by the sides of the road in Britain and attacking on the country lanes he learned his trade on. It’s after my question that there is a rare pause before he answers. Being in the professional peloton is certainly one part of Wright’s dream coming true, but it was always about more than just taking part in the biggest races on the planet. It was about winning them.

Over the last five years, the 26-year-old has come close. In fact, he has been so close so often, that the curse of being a ‘nearly man’ has followed Wright around for the past few seasons. He became the type of rider every fan was rooting for to finally get a big result: the victory at the National Championships counts as his first professional win, but he’s still chasing that elusive top step of the podium in Europe. Bike racing is fun – Wright believes that more than anything – but winning is as good as it gets.

“I’m trying not to really think about it too much. I was close again at the Tour of Britain, but I know if I overthink it, then it is the sort of thing that will stop me from racing well,” he muses. “I’ve come to terms with it more now because I can see my value in other ways. I’m still consistent and I know I’ve not won a race but what I can offer to the team is still really important. I’m going to keep trying – it’s not easy to win pro bike races these days.”

One thing that Wright thinks could help end his long and painful string of podium places is a change. In 2026, he’ll leave Bahrain-Victorious – the team he has spent his entire career with to date – and join Q36.5 Pro Cycling, the team of multi-discipline superstar Tom Pidcock, a rider he has grown up racing alongside. A fresh environment is exactly what Wright thinks he needs to take another step forward in his career.

Read more: Movers and shakers: Analysing professional cycling’s biggest transfers for 2026

“I’ve always been so impressed with how Tom is able to perform when he really wants. He’s so good at peaking at the right time and that’s thanks to the structure he has got around him. I’d love to try and feed off that,” he explains.

“I’m excited and nervous to be in a new environment with all the uncertainty, especially when I feel so comfortable in my current team. I’m happy here and content – I know my place. I still train really hard now, but I think psychologically I’ll be less relaxed in a new team and obviously trying to show myself even more. It’s a new environment that you want to be good in, so there’s a little bit more pressure to push on.”

He points out that in a fast-developing professional peloton, where the standard is only being raised each season, staying on the top of your game is imperative for success. A few days after our conversation, Wright will race Tadej Pogačar around the rolling roads of Quebec and Montréal, and the world champion will set a pace on the front of the race that obliterates the entire field – as he has done for so many races in the 2026 season. Going up against a rider like that is forcing everyone to up their level.

“It’s just harder in general. Like even this race at the end of the season in Canada, the older guys on my team were saying you could come here and have a beer back in 2019, like it was super relaxed. You can’t do that now, even at the end of the season everyone is pushing every little detail. It’s not going to get any easier. I think racing in the same era as Tadej, it’s fascinating. You really have to just focus on how good you are personally. If you start putting him in the equation it’s almost depressing,” he says, laughing.

“People say his dominance is bad for the sport but I think he’s the greatest of all time. It’s an honour to be racing in this era with him. You have to just focus on what you’re doing – maybe for me the Tour de France wasn’t what I’d hoped for results-wise, for example, but I can confidently say I was doing all the right things. I looked at all the data, I was going well but I just wasn’t quite good enough. You can only control what you can control, unfortunately.”

One way that Wright sees his chances against the likes of Pogačar improving is through strength in numbers. The Brit has always thrived on the chaotic roads of Belgium in the early season Classics, but he lacked the teammates this season to play with in the finals. Having Pidcock alongside him is going to give Q36.5 options against super squads like UAE Team Emirates or Alpecin-Deceuninck.

Image: Véronique Rolland

“Matej [Mohorič] is the first one to admit he’s not quite been on his previous level this season. When you don’t have someone like that on his usual level it means there’s not quite enough depth there to have that support. The more high level guys you have in these races, the better,” Wright explains.

“That is how you challenge the top guys – by putting numbers in a solid group, then you’ve got cards to play. I think me and Tom will cross over in a really good way. I’m used to working for GC leaders too. I think I’ll have my own opportunities next year and chances to show myself as well.”

Alongside Wright, Tom Gloag and Mark Donovan will also join Q36.5 Pro Cycling next season, making up a strong contingent of British talent who know each other well from racing together on the national team. While there will be a lot of changes in a new set-up for Wright next season, there will also be plenty of familiar faces and reminders of the early days of bike racing that the Londonder still looks back on so fondly.

“I think I will fit in straight away quite well and it will be nice to have more British teammates. When you create a good group, that makes a really big difference. I’m going to miss all of the guys on Bahrain, that’s for sure. I really appreciate them and have had a great stint here, but it is time to try a new set-up,” Wright confirms.

There is no doubt that for Wright, being a professional cyclist is as good as he’d always hoped it would be – it’s what he believes he was born to do. He’s keen to stress that he has relished his time with Bahrain-Victorious, but is convinced this next chapter is the change that will kickstart the success he’s always been destined for. It’s both a step forward, but also a reminder of what made him fall in love with this sport in the first place.

“Tom said to me that he wants us to come to the team and race together like we did when we were younger. I think that’s what I’m really looking forward to. Tom has found a new excitement for races and I feel like I’ve still got that, but joining this team is only going to make it get bigger.”