Michael Wright

Michael Wright (born 25 March 1941) is an English former professional road bicycle racer from 1962 to 1976. He won stages in the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España stage races and represented Great Britain at several world championships.

Early life Wright was born in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. His father died in World War II and his mother remarried to a Belgian soldier. The family emigrated to Belgium when Wright was only three. He grew up in Liège.

Wright's first sport was football. However, when his stepfather died leaving the family short of money, Wright turned to cycling as a more lucrative way of exploiting his athletic talent.

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 1967-8 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.

Professional career 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. He was a member of the British team in 1967 - the year that Tommy Simpson collapsed and died on Mont Ventoux.

Vuelta a España Wright won 4 stages of the Vuelta a España: 2 in 1968 and 2 in 1969. 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.

Major results

1962 1st Grand Prix du Brabant Wallon 9th Tour du Condroz 1963 1st Hoegaarden 2nd Omloop der Zennevallei 2nd Petegem-aan-de-Leie 1964 1st Grand Prix de Denain 1st Tour du Condroz 1st Stage 2 Tour du Nord 8th Rund um den Henninger Turm 9th Omloop van de Fruitstreek 1965 1st Hoeilaart–Diest–Hoeilaart 1st Stage 20 Tour de France 5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 10th Gent–Wevelgem 1966 1st Bruxelles–Verviers 4th Rund um den Henninger Turm 6th Ronde van Limburg 7th Grand Prix Pino Cerami 1967 1st Stage 7 Tour de France 3rd Manx Trophy 6th Omloop Het Volk 1968 1st Flèche Hesbignonne Vuelta a España 1st Stages 2 & 4

5th Overall Tour de l'Oise 7th Omloop der Beide Vlaanderen 8th Overall Tour de Luxembourg 1st Stage 1a 1969 1st Tour du Condroz Tour du Nord 1st Stages 1 & 4 1st Stage 1 Tour of the Basque Country 2nd Circuit des Onze Villes 5th Overall Vuelta a España 1st Stages 1b & 13

8th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre 1970 1st Stage 3 Volta a Catalunya 5th Le Samyn 5th Trofeo Masferrer 1971 8th Druivenkoers Overijse 10th Hoeilaart–Diest–Hoeilaart 1972 7th Circuit du Tournaisis 8th Overall Tour d'Indre-et-Loire 1973 1st Stage 10 Tour de France 10th Brabantse Pijl 1974 1st Circuit du Port de Dunkerque 2nd Four Days of Dunkirk 3rd Druivenkoers Overijse 4th Circuit des Frontières 5th Grand Prix d'Isbergues 7th Tour du Condroz 1975 7th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens 7th Grand Prix Pino Cerami 9th Druivenkoers Overijse 9th Ronde van Limburg 1976 2nd Circuit du Tournaisis 8th Tour du Condroz

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish