You could see Fred Wright was exhausted after Paris-Roubaix just from the way he was slumped on the astro-turf in the middle of the Roubaix Velodrome. The Londoner had good reason to be, though, after a tenacious performance a on Sunday saw him finish ninth, his fourth top-10 finish in a Monument after two at the Tour of Flanders and one at Milan-San Remo.
The Bahrain-Victorious rider recovered from mechanical issues on the Arenberg trench sector to battle through to the third chasing group on the road, finishing the first British rider.
"I avoided the big crashes and whatnot early, in the first part," the 25-year-old explained post-race, the grime of the day's effort clear on his face. "It was pretty hectic on that first sector, but I managed to survive OK. I kept believing, my bike went into crash mode on the Arenberg, which was probably the worst thing that could have happened.
"I positioned myself well, after missing the split on the sector before, and then I was in my biggest gear churning away getting passed by everyone and I thought the race was over. Thanks to the headwinds, it allowed me to come back slightly a bit more into the race. I changed bikes and then it was just about keeping believing. I'll take a top 10, that's alright in the end."
This was Wright's fifth Roubaix, his fifth in a row, and followed a 12th place last year, when he came into the velodrome in a group of nine. This year, he was determined to get a better position. His charge was aided by a bit of fortune, too.
"There was one point coming towards the end, coming into the Carrefour [de l'Arbre] where I was thinking, 'Actually, I need to go here', because I was feeling better than this group," he said. "I attacked my group in the same place Pauline attacked yesterday, and that worked alright actually.
"The two guys on the front [of his group] – two idiots – didn't realise you had to turn right into the velodrome, they just went off left and that was them out of the picture," he continued.
"Then there were five of us, and I thought it was a bit easier to get a top 10. The Intermarché guy had a gap, [Jasper] Philipsen started closing, and then I hit them with a lap to go and I thought they'd come but managed to hold on for ninth."
After a successful start to the year, with ninth at Roubaix following 10th at San Remo, the former British champion is now determined to convert one of these near-misses into a win.
"I've got to start doing a bit better," he said, "how not to be the best of the rest. I'm happy with that [result], though."
