Wrights had a big advantage, they weren't trying to fly on a particular day! They had the advantage of waiting for a day suitable for the flight.
By coincidence I was reading a nice article in
Pilot for DEC93 about the 90th anniversary and it mentions
Giancarlo Zanardo (about whom a google finds many references in Italian...) who seems to have been flying a good-looking flyer for a decade. In the article it's shown flying without the wheels also.
Quote from the article
By the end of the morning Wilbur had achieved a 59-second 852-foot flight, before a gust recked the parked Flyer.
I wonder if they went on to invent tie-downs?
The Europeans really invented aircraft, unfortunately not flying ones