Michael Wright (cyclist)
# Michael Wright (cyclist)

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.

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

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.

Stage wins:

* 1968: Zaragoza > Lleida and Barcelona > Salou
* 1969: Badajoz > Badajoz and Moyá > Barbastro

## Major results

### 1961 - Amateur

    21 wins

### 1962 - First professional year

    1st Grand Prix du Brabant Wallon

### 1963

    1st Hoegaarden

### 1964

    1st Tour du Condroz
    1st Grand Prix de Denain
    1st Critéruim de Visé
    1st Bruxelles-Nandrin
    1st Stage 2 Tour du Nord

### 1965

    1st Hoeilaart-Diest-Hoeilaart
    1st Criterium of London
    1st Stage 20 Tour de France
    5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

### 1966

    1st Bruxelles-Verviers
    4th Henninger Turm

### 1967

    1st Vaux Grand Prix
    1st Grand Prix de Pamel
    3rd Manx Trophy
    1st Stage 7 Tour de France
    6th Omloop Het Volk

### 1968

    1st Flèche Hesbignonne
    1st Critérium d'Hasselt
    1st Stage 1 Tour de Luxembourg
    Vuelta a España
       1st Stages 2 & 4
    5th Tour de l'Oise

### 1969

    1st Tour du Condroz
    1st Stage 1 Vuelta al País Vasco - G.P Eibar
    Tour du Nord
       1st Stages 1 & 4
    5th Overall Vuelta a España
       1st Stages 1 & 13

### 1970

    1st stage 3 Volta a Catalunya

### 1973

    1st Stage 10 Tour de France

### 1974

    1st Circuit du Port de Dunkerque
    2nd Four Days of Dunkirk

### 1975

    2nd Circuit de Wallonie

### 1976

    1st Circuit de Niel
