'I want to get my hands in the air' - Fred Wright motivated by Pidcock reunion at Pinarello-Q36.5

Wright turned professional with Bahrain in 2020 and over the following six seasons, he established himself as one of the strongest and most reliable riders in the peloton, a rider always willing to roll the dice with an attack.

Following his high-profile switch for the 2026 season, Domestique caught up with Wright ahead of racing the Vuelta a Andalucia. 

The 26-year-old had made his debut a few days earlier at the Clasica de Almeria, and the Vuelta a Andalucia would ultimately prove to be a solid outing for Wright and the team.

Wright picked up 5th and 9th place finishes on stages, while Tom Pidcock won the final stage and leapt to 3rd in the final GC podium.

It marked the team’s first victory of the 2026 season and represents a positive start to the 2026 season as a whole. 

Domestique spoke with Wright about how he has found life at Pinarello-Q36.5 so far, and in our conversation, the former British champion opened up about his seamless transition into his new team and familiar faces, which helped the integration process.

It was a busy winter for the ambitious second division team, with the arrival of 10 new riders as well as the introduction of Pinarello as a title sponsor. When there is a large influx of new members into a team, it can sometimes lead to teething problems, such as for Liverpool this season in the Premier League as defending champions. 

Wright believes that part of the team’s recruitment strategy was to also find those who would gel well with the current team and fit into the overall dynamics, avoiding said problems.

“I guess the sort of signings that have been made, it’s a lot of guys that are good at sort of being in that kind of environment,” said Wright, who also explained how his integration into the team was made easier thanks to some familiar faces. 

“There are a lot of new guys, but straight away, I already knew Tom [Pidcock]. I’ve known him for a long time now. Tom Gloag, who’s also new, I've known him since I was really young, and we’ve come from the same cycling club,” said Wright.

“So I think it's well-made decisions in terms of riders to create that really nice atmosphere. For me, straightaway on the first camp, I really felt part of the team, and it’s been a really easy integration process, to be honest. Like anything, you often expect it to be more difficult, but actually it’s been great.”

The team recently made the headlines for a team training camp in Chile, which included the likes of Wright, Pidcock and Gloag, and the 26-year-old believes that it’s processes like this which help with team integration and building connections. 

“Talking about how it’s been integrating with the team, I think it really helped to have, okay, it was only seven of us riders there, but in terms of that group of riders, we got really close, and I think that definitely helps,” said Wright.

“When you’re racing together, and you’ve also spent three and a half weeks on top of a mountain with these people, that definitely helps when it comes to working together in races. 

“It's something that I've always wanted to try and do, to see if it works doing altitude before the Classics. 
So yeah, now I've done it, I am looking forward to putting the legs to good use.”

Linking up with Tom Pidcock, whose arrival for 2025 signalled a new trajectory for the second division team, was a big factor in Wright's decision to make the switch. It's proven to be a successful move  for Pidcock so far, illustrated by his third-place finish at the Vuelta a España last season.

“Tom sort of said to me like, ‘it would be nice to race like we did when we were younger as juniors’, and I think that kind of idea of also enjoying it is key,” Wright said.

“It’s hard to describe, but yeah, I think I needed a new environment to find the real enjoyment of racing. I didn’t have the best year in 2024, but last year was really good. I started really enjoying racing at the back end of the season, and here’s a great environment to continue that. That’s why we started, you know, just racing bikes, that’s what it’s all about.”

That renewed sense of joy has carried over from a strong 2025 campaign with Bahrain-Victorious, where Wright proved his big-race credentials. 

In his final season with Bahrain-Victorious, Wright illustrated his versatility and ability to perform when it counts by finishing 10th at Milan-San Remo and 9th at Paris-Roubaix. This meant that Wright was one of only seven riders in the men’s peloton to finish in the top 10 of two different Monuments in the 2025 season.

It was an esteemed company that Wright kept in the shape of Filippo Ganna, Mads Pedersen, Pidcock, Tadej Pogačar, Wout van Aert, and Mathieu van der Poel. It’s something that he acknowledges is a confirmation of his ability to perform in the big races, albeit if he was slightly disappointed that he narrowly missed out on making it three races, after finishing 23rd in a group sprint at the Tour of Flanders.

“To be honest, I was a bit gutted, because I should have probably finished top 10 in Flanders as well. I was in the sprint for 10th,” said Wright. “But yeah, it was great, it showed that I can perform in the big races, so that’s a good part of what I’m looking forward to this season.”

Building on that foundation, following the switch after the long spell at Bahrain, Wright believes that he can take a combination of things he learnt at his old team and combine that with fresh ideas at his new squad in order to unlock the best version of himself. 

“It’s kind of nice to to start afresh, working with a new team, because you can say, ‘look, this is what worked in the past, this is what it didn't work’ and then they sort of use all the data that they've got, like, especially now in the sport, there's so much so much data you can look at,” said Wright.

“Having fresh ideas from new people to look at that and say, ‘okay, this is where we can improve, this is where we want to try and get better,’ is important, and I’d like to say I’ve not felt this great at the start of a season before.”

The key ambition for Wright is to win a race for the first time since his maiden professional victory at the British Road Race Championships in 2023 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea. He admitted that he hopes to target some races that aren’t on the same scale as Flanders or Roubaix, to try and find the winning formula, and build more confidence that he can take into the premier events.

“I said to Kurt [Bogaerts] straight away that I really want to get my hands in the air and I want to win,” revealed Wright. “You know, it's great being top 10 in these big races, but you've also got to be realistic about beating the top top guys, it’s not easy.”

“So I think to go into those races with more confidence, it would be nice to sort of pick up a win in some sort of smaller races. That’s a goal of mine this year, just to get the hands into the air and get that feeling, and take it with confidence into the real big races.”

When asked what he aims to focus on in order to try and unlock that winning formula, Wright highlighted his preparations and managing form during a busy block of racing. 

“I really want to try, especially the Classics, as that's the most important part of my season, to be more consistent. Last year, I wasn’t quite as consistent as I wanted to be. I’d love to be able to race and be up there in everyone that I start,” said Wright. 

“There are a lot of factors that you can’t control, but in terms of physical ability, I’d love to be able to sort of nail the preparation, so for each one, I’m firing on all cylinders, so that’s a big goal of mine I would like to get right.

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Because it's difficult to get right. Once you get to this point, you just race, and you end up doing a lot of racing, and the training in between is quite hard to get right. But I think with the team supporting me here, hopefully it should be a lot closer to getting it right.”

With that mindset, Wright turns his attention to kicking off his Classics campaign at Omloop Nieuwsblad on February 28. He will be joined by Pidcock, who is lining up for an early cobbled test before shifting focus later in the spring. The British duo will come up against Mathieu van der Poel, a debutant at the race, but nonetheless, the favourite for victory.

Sixteen of the last eighteen Monuments and World Championships have been won by either Tadej Pogačar or Van der Poel, illustrating their grip on the elite one-day races and the high-octane level it takes to be able to compete with them, let alone beat them.

Wright remained realistic when asked about the best way to race against the dominant duo, but he did discuss the importance of strength in numbers, as a general positive factor for the finale of races.

“Yeah, it’s not easy, but I think having numbers, and having more numbers than they do, that’s kind of the goal of teams now,” said Wright.

“Take Nieuwsblad, for example. Ok, Tadej’s not racing, but looking at the parcours, they’ve made it a little bit harder running into the Muur,” said Wright. “I think with the team that we have got, we can really have a lot of guys coming into that final, and when you’ve got a lot of options, the racing gets so much easier.

“I think if you’re just there alone, you’ve got to decide whether or not to follow one move or the other. Whereas, what we should have in Opening Weekend, for example, is lots of cards to play, and I think that’s the best way of doing it really.”

Following Opening Weekend, there are plenty of other key goals for Wright, which he shared with Domestique.

“Opening Weekend, and then after that Tirreno and Milan-San Remo. Following San Remo, it will be E3 [Saxo Classic], Gent [Wevelgem], Dwars door [Vlaanderen], [Tour of] Flanders and [Paris] Roubaix,” said Wright. “Then I’ll have a little break after Roubaix, potentially do some races in France, before heading to altitude and then all prep for the Tour [de France], that’s the plan.

“It’s pretty similar to what I've done before, but I quite like the idea of, as I said before, having a new load of people looking at the data and trying to maximise everything,” he explained.

In terms of his personal ambitions, the goal is clear as to where he wants to be at his very best… “A massive dream of mine is to be on the podium of either Flanders or Roubaix. That’s where every year I’m going to want to be flying.”

“It’s hard to pinpoint where your form is going to be the best, but yeah, just racing at the pointy end of those Classics, that’s one of the best feelings that you can get, so that sort of two-week window, that’s the goal to be in peak shape then,” Wright explained. 

The 26-year-old also shared his desire to continue chasing a maiden Grand Tour stage at the Tour de France. He has raced the Tour five times consecutively since making his debut in 2021, and has been a consistent animator in the breakaways, hunting that elusive stage victory.

Wright’s lowest best stage result of a single edition at the Tour was 13th in 2022, and in total, he has six top-10 stage finishes at the race.

“Going to the Tour, I’m always going to be trying to hunt for stage wins, and that’s another dream of mine. I’d love to win a stage of the Tour, so yeah, I’m going to keep trying until it happens or doesn’t happen.”

The closest Wright came to a stage win so far was in the 2022 edition when he finished second on stage 13 in a three-man breakaway sprint behind Mads Pedersen.

Ultimately, it’s been a positive start to life at Pinarello-Q36.5 for Fred Wright, and he is excited about what is to come. 

“That's what's really excited me in terms of joining the team, is where they want to get to. I think it’s only going to progress year upon year. In terms of myself, I love the process of trying to make myself better, and that’s what this team is constantly going through. I think it’s also what you have to go through to first of all get to the top level of the sport, and then also to stay there."

“It’s all about looking for progression, and definitely in this team there’s the right staff, the right people that are looking to make that happen and the sky’s the limit, really.”