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