diff --git a/news/b7b40802-1aae-4295-99f4-a0dd48c96e69.trivial b/news/b7b40802-1aae-4295-99f4-a0dd48c96e69.trivial
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/network/lazy_wheel.py b/src/pip/_internal/network/lazy_wheel.py
index c2371bf5cd3..16be0d2972a 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/network/lazy_wheel.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/network/lazy_wheel.py
@@ -109,8 +109,10 @@ def read(self, size=-1):
         all bytes until EOF are returned.  Fewer than
         size bytes may be returned if EOF is reached.
         """
+        download_size = max(size, self._chunk_size)
         start, length = self.tell(), self._length
-        stop = start + size if 0 <= size <= length-start else length
+        stop = length if size < 0 else min(start+download_size, length)
+        start = max(0, stop-download_size)
         self._download(start, stop-1)
         return self._file.read(size)