Nacer Bouhanni

Nacer Bouhanni (born 25 July 1990) is a French former professional racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2011 to 2023. A sprinter, he was the winner of the 2012 French National Road Race Championships. Although his first Grand Tour was in 2012, his real breakthrough was in 2014 when he won three stages and the points classification in the Giro d'Italia. In August 2014 it was announced that Bouhanni would leave FDJ and join on an initial two-year deal from 2015.

FDJ (2011–14)
After a good amateur career, which saw him winning the national cycling military championships, he signed a contract with in 2011. In January he got his first professional stage win in La Tropicale Amissa Bongo.

Bouhanni won his first stage of the 2012 season by winning stage 1 of the Étoile de Bessèges. Later that season he got his breakthrough win by winning the French National Road Race Championships ahead of his teammate Arnaud Démare. He also rode his first Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España, where his best finish was second on stage 10.

The 2013 season started well with a stage win in the Tour of Oman. Afterwards he rode Paris–Nice, where he got a stage win and the leader's jersey, however he crashed out of the race the very next day. He rode the Giro d'Italia, where he finished second to Mark Cavendish on the first stage, but abandoned on stage 13. He also rode his first Tour de France in 2013, however he got sick and retired after a crash on stage 5.

The 2014 season was very successful for Bouhanni, with numerous wins including three victories in the Giro d'Italia as well as earning the points classification. In the Vuelta a España, Bouhanni won two mass sprints, Stages 2 and 8. The latter saw a battle occur in the crosswinds and Bouhanni managed to stay with the first group on the road to win the sprint ahead of Michael Matthews and Peter Sagan. After withdrawing from the Vuelta, Bouhanni gave an interview where he was critical of the FDJ management. As a response, Marc Madiot sidelined him for the remainder of the season, at the end of which Bouhanni left the team for.

Cofidis (2015–19)
He had to wait until April 2015 to get his first victory for his new team on the opening stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe in a bunch sprint as the breakaway was caught inside the final kilometre. He also won the last stage of the event. A little later on that month, he won the Grand Prix de Denain for the second year in a row. He won his team's first UCI World Tour race of the season on stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in a bunch sprint. He added a win on Stage 4 after a hectic finale which saw a flurry of attacks. Bouhanni was forced to withdraw from the 2015 Tour de France after a crash at the 12 km mark of Stage 5.

In 2016, Bouhanni won stage 1 of the Volta a Catalunya and took the leader's jersey. Bouhanni had to withdraw from the French National Road Race Championships due to a hand injury sustained in an altercation with fellow guests at a hotel the night before the race. The injury also caused him to withdraw from the Tour de France. On 21 August, Bouhanni initially won the EuroEyes Cyclassics but he was later relegated for irregular sprinting.

Arkéa–Samsic
In October 2019, Bouhanni signed for the team.

Incidents
Bouhanni was penalised one minute time for hitting another rider, Jack Bauer, in the 2017 Tour de France. The race jury also levied a fine of 200 Swiss francs. Bouhanni was also investigated after contact with Anthony Maldonado at the end of a stage in the Tour de l'Ain in August. The race jury decided to take no action. Later in 2017, after the Paris–Bourges race, Bouhanni had to be separated from Rudy Barbier, who had won the race. Bouhanni subsequently apologised for his behaviour, but maintained that Barbier had ridden dangerously and irregularly in the finishing sprint. In May 2018, French sports newspaper L'Équipe reported that Bouhanni had been involved in a "violent altercation" with Cofidis directeur sportif Roberto Damiani on the team's bus following the Eschborn–Frankfurt race, which Bouhanni did not finish.

In the 2021 Cholet-Pays de la Loire, Bouhanni initially finished third, but was disqualified by the race jury for an aggressive manoeuvre in the final sprint. Bouhanni started his sprint behind his leadout man, and as he began to accelerate up to speed, he veered to his left to try and get onto the wheel of eventual winner Elia Viviani. In doing so, Bouhanni pinned Jake Stewart against the barriers. Though Stewart was able to stay upright and avoid causing a crash, the contact from Bouhanni sapped his momentum and he ended up finishing 29th. After the race, Stewart and other fellow sprinters took to social media to criticise Bouhanni and call for his suspension, drawing similarities between Bouhanni's actions and those of Dylan Groenewegen at the 2020 Tour de Pologne, which caused Fabio Jakobsen to crash and sustain heavy injuries. On 12 May 2021, for his 'dangerous conduct,' the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) handed Bouhanni a retroactive two-month suspension, expiring on 7 June 2021.

Major results

 * 2010
 * 5th Overall Tour de Gironde
 * 1st Stage 2


 * 2011
 * 1st Stage 3 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
 * 5th Grand Prix de la Somme
 * 8th Grand Prix de Denain
 * 8th Paris–Troyes


 * 2012
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Circuit de Lorraine
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
 * 1st Stage 1
 * 1st Halle–Ingooigem
 * 1st Stage 1 Étoile de Bessèges
 * 1st Stage 1 Tour de Wallonie
 * 2nd Flèche d'Emeraude
 * 2nd Paris–Bourges
 * 6th Overall Tour de l'Eurométropole
 * 1st Stage 4
 * 9th Cholet-Pays de Loire
 * 9th Grand Prix de Wallonie


 * 2013
 * 1st Val d'Ille Classic
 * 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * 1st Tour de Vendée
 * Tour of Beijing
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 2 & 3
 * 1st Stage 1 Paris–Nice
 * 1st Stage 6 Tour of Oman
 * 1st Stage 2 Circuit de la Sarthe
 * 2nd Omloop van het Houtland
 * 3rd Grand Prix de Denain
 * 3rd Halle–Ingooigem
 * 3rd Brussels Cycling Classic
 * 8th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1, 2 & 3


 * 2014
 * 1st Grand Prix de Denain
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Jersey red.svg Points classification
 * 1st Azzurri d'Italia classification
 * 1st Stages 4, 7 & 10
 * Vuelta a España
 * 1st Stages 2 & 8
 * Held Jersey green.svg after Stages 2–3
 * Circuit de la Sarthe
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 1
 * 1st Stage 1 Paris–Nice
 * 1st Stage 4 Eneco Tour
 * 1st Stage 2 Étoile de Bessèges
 * 1st Stage 1 Critérium International
 * 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 3rd Le Samyn
 * 3rd Nokere Koerse
 * 10th Road race, UCI Road World Championships


 * 2015
 * 1st UCI Europe Tour
 * 1st French Road Cycling Cup
 * 1st Halle–Ingooigem
 * 1st Circuito de Getxo
 * 1st Grand Prix d'Isbergues
 * 1st Grand Prix de Denain
 * 1st Nationale Sluitingsprijs
 * Critérium du Dauphiné
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 2 & 4
 * Circuit de la Sarthe
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1 & 4
 * Tour de l'Ain
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1 & 2
 * 2nd Paris–Bourges
 * 2nd Route Adélie
 * 3rd Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * 4th Trofeo Santanyi–Ses Salines–Campos
 * 6th Milan–San Remo
 * 9th Polynormande


 * 2016
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Overall Tour de Picardie
 * 1st Jersey blue.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1 & 2
 * 1st Tour de Vendée
 * Volta a Catalunya
 * 1st Stages 1 & 2
 * Tour du Poitou-Charentes
 * 1st Stages 1 & 3
 * 1st Stage 4 Paris–Nice
 * 1st Stage 1 Critérium du Dauphiné
 * 1st Stage 2 Vuelta a Andalucía
 * 2nd Trofeo Playa de Palma
 * 2nd Grand Prix de la Somme
 * 2nd Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * 3rd Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
 * 3rd Brussels Cycling Classic
 * 4th Milan–San Remo
 * 5th Clásica de Almería
 * 7th Paris–Tours


 * 2017
 * 1st UCI Europe Tour
 * 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * 1st Nokere Koerse
 * 1st Paris–Camembert
 * 1st Stage 4 Volta a Catalunya
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour de Yorkshire
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour du Poitou-Charentes
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour de l'Ain
 * 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 2nd Grand Prix de Denain
 * 3rd Scheldeprijs
 * 3rd Trofeo Playa de Palma
 * 4th La Roue Tourangelle
 * 7th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
 * 8th Milan–San Remo
 * 8th Bretagne Classic
 * 9th EuroEyes Cyclassics


 * 2018
 * 1st Grote Prijs Marcel Kint
 * Boucles de la Mayenne
 * 1st Jersey red.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 2 & 3
 * 1st Stage 6 Vuelta a España
 * 1st Stage 1 Route d'Occitanie
 * 1st Stage 3 Four Days of Dunkirk
 * 2nd Ronde van Limburg
 * 6th Overall Dubai Tour


 * 2019
 * 2nd Grote Prijs Marcel Kint
 * 4th Three Days of Bruges–De Panne
 * 5th La Roue Tourangelle
 * 6th Elfstedenronde
 * 7th Heistse Pijl
 * 7th Cholet-Pays de Loire


 * 2020
 * 1st Overall French Road Cycling Cup
 * 1st Grand Prix d'Isbergues
 * 1st Paris–Chauny
 * 1st Stage 1 Tour de la Provence
 * 2nd Overall Saudi Tour
 * 1st Jersey red.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 4
 * 3rd Brussels Cycling Classic
 * 3rd Paris–Camembert
 * 6th Milano–Torino
 * 8th Trofeo Campos, Porreres, Felanitx, Ses Salines


 * 2021
 * 2nd La Roue Tourangelle
 * 2nd Grote Prijs Jef Scherens
 * 4th Paris–Chauny
 * 6th Eurométropole Tour


 * 2022
 * 1st La Roue Tourangelle
 * 2nd Milano–Torino
 * 2nd Clásica de Almería
 * 3rd Classic Brugge–De Panne


 * 2023
 * 6th Milano–Torino

Personal life
Bouhanni has a son with his partner, actress Hafsia Herzi.