Fred Wright insists 'nice big win' is on horizon ahead of World Championships road race
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Updated 23/09/2022 at 14:46 GMT
After a breakout year lined with near-misses, Fred Wright heads into Sunday’s elite road race at the World Championships in Wollongong with an outside shot of claiming that elusive win. Wright tells Eurosport that he believes a “nice big win” will arrive at some point and admits he is still coming to terms with his sudden rise in status in the peloton.
'We were all on our knees' - Wright gets emotional after being told he 'animated' the Tour
Britain’s Fred Wright admits his string of near-misses in 2022 have left him “really gutted” but believes a “nice big win” is on the horizon.
Speaking to Eurosport ahead of the World Championships road race in Wollongong, Australia on Sunday, Wright reflected on a brilliant breakout season that has seen him repeatedly fall just short of an elusive victory.
Wright finished in the top five on five occasions at La Vuelta, just a month after he put in a series of impressive performances at the Tour de France.
His attacking style and emotive post-race interviews have earned him a legion of new fans and he insists he has no plans to change.
Reflecting on being the season’s nearly man, Wright said: “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was really gutted.
“You still have to take the positives out of everything. I guess that’s how I try to be in general life and I guess that’s maybe how my interviews come across, just trying to be positive.
“I think it’s hard nowadays with social media and everything, and people saying, ‘oh Fred, you’re so close, when’s that win going to come?’
“But I think I have to take a step back and look at this year and you’ve got to be happy. It’s not easy getting in these breakaways and attacking in the way that I’ve done.
“So it’s all building up to something, I don’t know what it’s going to be, but there’s going to be a nice big win at some point.
“Last year I was nowhere near winning a stage at a Grand Tour, this year I’m in a position where I feel like I should have won a stage of a Grand Tour. That’s already a good sign.”
Wright will start Sunday’s road race as an outside favourite, with the riders taking on 12 loops of a city circuit that includes just a single climb to Mount Pleasant.
However he admits that he is still struggling to grasp his status as a big-hitter in the peloton.
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'I know what I need to do' – Wright 'not worried' after another near-miss
“It’s weird. I think maybe I don’t believe in myself sometimes,” he said.
“It’s a World Championships and I’m one of the leaders in the British team and one of the outside favourites. To have had a season that has put me in that position is pretty special, innit!”
Wright will need to topple a host of big names, including fancied Belgium duo Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel, to finish on the top step of the podium on Sunday.
The short, sharp burst to Mount Pleasant features a peak gradient of 14%, averaging out at 7.7%, and should be significant enough to end any hopes of a medal for the pure sprinters.
And it is a course that Wright, who insists he feels “no pressure”, feels he can show himself on.
“I think it’s the perfect time to end [the season] at the Worlds, I’m not too burned out despite doing both the Tour and the Vuelta,” added Wright.
“So I’m really looking forward to Sunday and finishing off the season there.”
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Stream the Road World Championships live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk
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