# 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 Cofidis on an initial two-year deal from 2015.

## Career
### FDJ (2011–14)

After a good amateur career, which saw him winning the national cycling military championships, he signed a contract with FDJ 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.

### 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-kilometre (7.5-mile) 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 Arkéa–Samsic 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 Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Overall Circuit de Lorraine
       1st Points classification
       1st 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 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 Points classification
       1st Stages 1, 2 & 3

### 2014

    1st Grand Prix de Denain
    Giro d'Italia
       1st Points classification
       1st Azzurri d'Italia classification
       1st Stages 4, 7 & 10
    Vuelta a España
       1st Stages 2 & 8
       Held after Stages 2–3
    Circuit de la Sarthe
       1st 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 Points classification
       1st Stages 2 & 4
    Circuit de la Sarthe
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 1 & 4
    Tour de l'Ain
       1st 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 Overall Tour de Picardie
       1st 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 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 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

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | DNF | 140 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | — | DNF | — | DNF | — | 138 | — | — | — | DNF | — |
| Vuelta a España | DNF | — | DNF | DNF | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | — |

### Classic results timeline

| Monument | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | — | 6 | 4 | 8 | — | 62 | 38 | 19 | 27 |
| Tour of Flanders | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career |
| Paris–Roubaix | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career |
| Giro di Lombardia | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career |
| Classic | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne | — | NH | — | 18 | 3 | 33 | — | DNF | — | — | — |
| Milano–Torino | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6 | — | 2 |
| Gent–Wevelgem | — | — | — | DNF | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Scheldeprijs | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | 11 | DNF | DNF |
| Hamburg Cyclassics | — | — | — | — | 27 | 9 | — | — | Not held | Not held | — |
| Bretagne Classic | — | — | — | — | DNF | 8 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Paris–Tours | 16 | — | — | 42 | 7 | 22 | — | — | 18 | — | |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |
| IP | In progress |
| NH | Not held |

## Personal life

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