Bahrain Victorious stood at the start of the Tour de France, boasting a lineup that included GC contenders Jack Haig and Damiano Caruso, as well as past stage winners Dylan Tuns, Matej Mohoric, and Luis Leon Sanchez No one would have predicted that Fred Wright, in his third year as a professional, would end the Tour as their most impressive performer.

That is no disrespect to the Englishman, who turned 23 in June and finished in the top 10 in April's Tour de Flanders. Rather, most expected him to play the same domestique role he did last July.

Instead, the Londoner has come close to winning a stage three times in the Tour, most recently in the breakaway on stage 19 to Cahors.

The breakaway group in this fast and furious stage came to an end 35km before the finish, and Quinn Simons' attack was replaced 4km later by Wright, Simons' teammate Jasper Steiven of Trek-Segafredo, and Alexis Gujar (B&B Hotels-KTM) took over the race.

The trio, who were never allowed more than 30 seconds until the uphill sprint finish, kept pushing almost to the end, and were passed by stage winner Christophe Laporte (Jumbo Visma) 500 meters before the finish, leaving Wright as the last man standing.

"Everyone asked me, "Are you disappointed?" I was just trying to see what I could do," Wright told Cycling News as he walked up the hill past the finish line to the team bus.

"There was no way I could win a group kick against Jasper [Philipsen, who finished second on the stage] and the guys. So I thought I had a chance and I went for it and didn't look back until the end. But it didn't happen."

Wright, along with Stuyven and Gougere, took advantage of a lull after an early breakaway was caught in the final fifth or so of the intense 188.3 km stage, which averaged over 48 km/h.

Wright, along with Stuyven and Gougere, took advantage of a lull after an early breakaway was caught.

Tadei Pogachar was one of the riders who tried something in the hills during that time, but it was Gujar who launched an attack that stretched to the front.

"Gougere went first, and on the last climb I thought, "Whoa, everyone is trying to get away from the sprinters."

"But sometimes it's better that way, and there was a space open, so I went for it. It's a bit of a climb, and the sprinter teams don't really want to press too hard.

"So they gave us a gap. And in fact, we were able to rest a little bit on that downhill and push all the way to the finish. It's a shame

"The road surface was just sticky. At the end I thought there was no more climbing left, so I just kept going up and down. It was difficult, but I'm happy."

Wright pushed forward to the finish at the front of a three-man group, but was passed by Laporte, completing the work of a team that included Wout Van Aert in the green jersey.

"I thought I made a mistake," he said. I knew there was a group coming. But Laporte's speed was brilliant. He has the legs.

Wright, who finished 18th in the peloton behind the Frenchman, was caught on the final climb in Lausanne and finished second behind Mads Pedersen in Saint-Etienne.

His Bahrain Victorias team is undoubtedly the most prominent in this competition, having been groomed for Europole several times before the start in Denmark. Last July, the team took three stage wins and a top-10 overall finish, but this time Wright's ride was a shortcut to glory.

"I'll try to sprint and see what happens," Wright added. But I'm super happy because this Tour has been great for me."

"Of course I'm disappointed that [the win] didn't happen. But there are still many years left. The problem is that people will notice. So I don't know yet, but I'm very happy."

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