Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea Samsic) has become the second high profile sprinter to be suspended from competition for irregular sprinting.
Just days after Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo Visma) returned to racing at the Giro, after a nine-month ban for causing a bad crash at Tour de Pologne last August, the UCI announced Bouhanni had been suspended for two months.
Bouhanni in March apologised to Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) for the sprint move he pulled in the final gallop to the finish line at Cholet-Pays de la Loire (1.1) in France on March 28th.
Related News
Bouhanni (30) moved sharply to his left and pinned Stewart (21) up against the barriers to the extent he almost crashed. While the young British rider stayed upright he was later diagnosed with a broken bone in his hand, which hit the barriers in the sprint. Stewart was forced to miss some of the spring campaign due to the injury.
Advertisement
At the time Stewart was very critical of Bouhanni, who was relegated from 3rd place in the race, which was won by Elia Viviani (Cofidis). Bouhanni's case was then referred by the UCI to its disciplinary commission.
Bouhanni insisted at the time while he moved in the sprint it was accidental as he didn't see Stewart and was also trying to keep his balance. He also revealed shortly after the incident, and the social media storm it caused, that he had received racist abuse online.
At a hearing of the UCI disciplinary commission last Thursday, May 6th, the UCI said Bouhanni “admitted to having deviated from his line and committed a violation” of racing regulations.
“The rider agreed to the imposition of a two-month
suspension starting retroactively on April 8th,” the UCI said in a
statement this evening.
“The suspension shall end on June 7th. The rider also
agreed to the imposition of educational measures for the benefit of the cycling
family.”
Topics
