Q&A Fred Wright

Bahrain Victorious’s British star tells Cyclist about concussion at Roubaix, his two top tens at Flanders, and how family board games honed his competitive edge

-  ANDY MCGRATH

Cyclist: Crashing at 60kmh into the Arenberg Forest in Paris-Roubaix isn’t fun. How have you been since then?

Fred Wright: I think I can count myself quite lucky it was just concussion. The damage that crash did to a lot of the other riders was much worse. I spent a week recovering, very bored at home in bed. I didn’t even want to look at screens – it was a case of just resting my head. I still had mild symptoms six days later. Now, happy days, I’m completely back to normal.

I’m grateful the concussion protocols are what they are – a couple of years ago I’d have been put into the Amstel Gold Race and that would have messed up the rest of the year. That crash is not what I want to happen in my next crack at Roubaix, but there’s plenty more chances to go for it.

Cyc: What is the performance you’re happiest about so far in your career?

FW: Probably the 2022 Tour of Flanders. The Tour and Vuelta went really well but I took a lot of confidence from that seventh place [at Flanders]. That was maybe the point where I realised I can definitely be there in the biggest races.

Cyc: You’ve talked before about feeling impostor syndrome. Is that going away? You need a bit of ego to be up there.