Background
Wright was born in Bishop"s Stortford, Hertfordshire. His father died in World World War II and his mother re-married to a Belgian soldier. He grew up in Liège.
Wright was born in Bishop"s Stortford, Hertfordshire. His father died in World World War II and his mother re-married to a Belgian soldier. He grew up in Liège.
The family emigrated to Belgium when Wright was only three. Wright"s first sport was football. His first language was French and, although he represented Great Britain at the Tour de France and several World road race championships, his English was limited.
During the winter of 1967-1968 he took evening classes to brush up his English in preparation for riding with the British team
In 2006, he told Procycling magazine that his English is poor. He told Procycling that he profited from his British nationality because he was never good enough to ride in a Belgian national team
Being British gave him rides in world championships and, in 1967 and 1968, in the Tour de France (held in those years for national teams). He rode with a small Union Jack sewn to the sleeves of his jerseys.
When he stopped racing, he worked as a salesman for the IJsboerke ice-cream company, which briefly had a professional team of its own.
Wright was too big to ride well in the high mountains, but he was a fast finisher from a small group. Tour de France
Wright rode the Tour de France eight times, finishing 24th in 1965 and winning three stages. Together with Barry Hoban, Wright provided Great Britain with its most consistent period of Tour stage wins during the late sixties and early seventies.
Tour record:
1964: 56th
1965: 24th - 1st stage 20: Lyon > Auxerre
1967: did not finish - 1st stage 7: Metz > Strasbourg
1968: 28th
1969: 71st
1972: 55th
1973: 57th - 1st stage 10: Nice > Aubagne
1974: 57th
Vuelta a España
In 1968 he was third in the points classification.
In 1969 he came 5th on general classification, 2nd on the points classification and wore the leader"s jersey for 2 days. Stage wins:
1968: Zaragoza > Lleida and Barcelona > Salou
1969: Badajoz > Badajoz and Moyá > Barbastro.
He was a member of the British team in 1967 - the year that Tommy Simpson collapsed and died on Mont Ventoux.