“It’s coming home!” – British champion Fred Wright takes inspiration from England’s World Cup heroics as he eyes Tour de France breakaway success
Cycling
Fred Wright began the morning of stage 3 at the 2026 Tour de France in the same way as plenty of English sports fans: checking the World Cup score.
England had beaten co-hosts Mexico 3-2 at the Azteca, surviving most of the second half with 10 men after Jarell Quansah’s red card, with Jude Bellingham scoring twice and Harry Kane converting the penalty that sent them into the quarter-finals. It was one of the standout results of England’s modern World Cup history, delivered in Mexico City against a home crowd and under major knockout pressure.
Only hours earlier, Isaac del Toro had given Mexico a major sporting celebration of its own with victory on stage 2 of the Tour in Barcelona. Speaking to TNT Sports before the start of stage 3, Wright admitted the football result had immediately lifted his morning.
“I went on BBC Sport and checked the England score,” Wright said. “I saw that we won and I was very happy this morning. I said to my roommate straight away, I saw that he woke up and I said, ‘Hey Brent (van Moer), it’s coming home.’”
Asked whether he could recreate his reaction to the result, Wright was not quite willing to go that far on camera. “I started singing ‘It’s coming home’, but I’m not going to sing it right now,” he laughed.
England strike back after Del Toro’s Mexican celebration
On Sunday, Del Toro had taken the biggest win of his career at the Tour de France, with Tadej Pogacar allowing his UAE Team Emirates – XRG teammate to cross the line first after the pair had gone clear in the Barcelona finale.
That made it a huge day for Mexican cycling, but England’s World Cup win over Mexico gave Wright an immediate comeback before the peloton rolled out for stage 3. “Yeah, we took the more important result, I’d say,” Wright joked.
Stage 3 takes the Tour from Granollers to Les Angles, with almost 200 kilometres of racing, serious climbing and more extreme heat as the peloton heads towards France. After the football highlights, Wright’s attention quickly turned back to the conditions awaiting the riders.
“There’s going to be a lot of suffering”
Wright suggested his own ambitions may be more firmly fixed on the following stage, but he knows stage 3 could become a major breakaway battle. With the first uphill finish of the race and difficult conditions throughout the day, there will be no shortage of riders trying to get up the road early. “To be honest, I’ve got my eyes a bit on tomorrow,” he said. “Today, one thing is for sure: it’s going to be a really hard day.”
“So it was nice to watch some football highlights this morning and not really think about the suffering," he added. "There’s going to be a lot of suffering today, wherever you are, whether you’re in the breakaway or just in the bunch.”
The heat has already been one of the themes of the opening weekend, with riders repeatedly pointing to the conditions after stage 2. Wright expects that to continue on stage 3, especially with the length of the route and the fight for the breakaway likely to make the opening phase intense. “It’s going to be a big day,” he added. “200k, this heat is relentless. I think every man and his dog wants to be in the breakaway.”
For Wright, England’s World Cup win provided a light-hearted start to a demanding Tour morning. Once stage 3 begins, the football celebrations will give way to the heat, climbing and breakaway chaos that could shape the race long before the final climb to Les Angles.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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