Fred Wright is out of the Tour de France on stage 11 after finishing outside the time limit, a day he described post-stage as the worst of his life.
The Bahrain Victorious rider was out the back early on during the mountainous stage in the Massif Central, with about 160km still to ride on Wednesday, and eventually finished just eight minutes outside the time limit.
It was the fastest stage with over 4000m of elevation this millennium, which can't have helped Wright's cause, as well as being a hot day in the centre of France. The former British champion finished 1:01:50 behind the stage winner, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
"That was the worst day of my life," Wright told ITV Sport post-stage. "I really had to suffer then, and it wasn't much fun.
"I'm not sure to be honest," he replied when asked what had gone wrong. "It was an easy day yesterday, and I felt terrible at the finish. I couldn't help the boys. I thought OK, let's go into today with a fresh mind. I'm always going to be up for it and stay positive. In the start, I was involved for the first one or two kilometres, but then I had a bit of a moment where I felt terrible.
"I dunno, I just didn't have any power left. I was on my own quite early on. I've always been quite good at sort of time trialling, working out what I've got, this is where I need to push. I have no regrets, because that's all I've got. It was just a shame it was me alone."
"I wouldn't have wished this on my worst enemy, not that I've got many enemies," Wright added. "I don't think I'm going to suffer like that again, which is hopefully a good thing."
Wright's breakout ride came at the 2022 Tour de France, when he was a regular in the breaks, finishing second on stage 13 of that race behind Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). In 2023 he impressed again, spending time in the breakaway on two stages. His best result this race was eighth on stage eight, behind Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), who won the stage.
