"It’s a weird style of racing" - Fred Wright criticises Visma & UAE for pace-setting on stage 2 of Dauphiné

For the second day in a row, Fred Wright was right in the mix at the 2025 Criterium du Dauphiné on stage 2, finishing 2nd behind Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan in the bunch sprint, rising to 4th in the general classification as a result. 

"It was a hard stage, actually. We were really racing over some of those climbs on the narrow roads, and it was hot as well," reflected a tired Wright in his post-stage interview afterwards. "That 3K climb was kind of grim. But yeah, after a hard day, I know I’ve still got a decent sprint. And with not a big sprinter field here, it’s more about being patient rather than being perfectly at the front."

"I told Robert Stannard to go on that last bridge just over the top to get some speed into the last kilometre, and it worked pretty perfect," he added. "He put me right on Johnny’s wheel. I’ve been a teammate of Johnny’s — this guy is unbelievable, man. Just to hold his wheel then… it’s better than what I used to do in training camp. So I’ll take that."

Still though, the wait for a win goes on for Wright, who only has one victory on his palmares, a former British national title. "I’m happy to have executed it. It’s just… you know, I can be up there, but winning these bike races — that’s the hard part. That’s the problem," he explains.

It was also a problem made even harder by GC teams such as Team Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates - XRG doing their best to control the front of the peloton and keep a high pace throughout. Tactics that Wright found rather confusing. "It’s all about the two big GC teams showing which one is the strongest. They’re just racing each other. It’s a weird style of racing, to be honest," analyses the Bahrain - Victorious star. "Like, 'Who can be first on the downhill ahead of the other team?' It’s a bit… yeah, just makes it hard. To be honest, we were riding up that climb for no reason that hard. It was the sort of pace where no one can attack. But yeah — happy with that."