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I do wonder if the criticism he gets is partly driven by his North African heritage.
Seen nothing to support that. INRNG has a feature on him and when asked about pushing another rider off his bike he doesn't address it but says that kind of criticism makes him thrive. In all sounds like an unabashed dickhead who encourages his team to act as thuggishly as they need to to disrupt other sprint trains.
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That's fair enough but Moscon was called out on it and punished (even if this was tokenistic) if fellow pros are calling him out publicly for being a thug and he just shrugs then it doesn't really seem logical to assume they'd be more tolerant of him if he was white? Cav certainly gets called out often enough for being a dick and his rap sheet pales in comparison to Bouhanni's...
The guy states he loved being a cop and that's what he'd be doing if he weren't a pro cyclist so that's enough for me...
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To be fair, they probably have more sponsors than Cofidis as it stands.
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He needs Betancur to take him under his wing, show him there is more to off-season than pastry and petty squabbling.
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Can the people who think this give an example of an incident that's occurred where this is exemplified?
I see someone with a track record of unapologetic violence towards other riders, is highly confrontational in his personal life, and if you take the INRNG piece as an example, was passed over in favour of a more peaceable Demare because his performances simply didn't justify the negative PR he brought with him.
Will happily revise that opinion if it's all just a racially motivated construct designed to push him out the peloton.
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He's a bit flighty, but no more than Cavendish or the Aussie dude.
There's a lot of stuff from 2 years ago when MTN joined.Historically, the peloton weren't welcoming of Colombian riders.
I can't read french so I can't be extensive in my trawl of the internet, but I can apply some broad brush stroke "this happens so this happens".
I know that the north African people cop a lot of shit on France. As do people of colour in general in france. While the peloton is not entirely french, it's majority north european and white. In football it's easy to see the effects of racism from the fans (hello Italy, Russia) and on the pith(same).I would imagine similar things are shouted said, and written by fans, journal, players, owners.
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Can you provide more evidence of a) him being violent towards other riders and b) being highly confrontational in his personal life.
Because all I think you’ve got is the odd run in with other teams after sprint finishes and a well publicised incident on the eve of the French national champs, where wedding guests were a bit rowdy, Bouhanni asked them to pipe down and it kicked off. No charges were ever brought against Bouhanni so one can only assume he didn’t instigate it.
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I think we are making 2+2=5.
Bouhanni is a mouthy bellend who has form for falling out with team management. Tbh I never really saw him as someone of colour, just a French. I think it is a bit of stretch to say that he has earned that reputation because of the peloton's innate racism.
However I do agree Cavendish is just as bad on and off the bike so it's simply a case of whether you are a fan of the rider or not. I like Cav but I can see why a lot of cycling fans simply loathe him.
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'A bit flighty' is one way to put it.
In all these examples you give in mind, don't you think as a prized, protected rider-riding for a French team in French tournaments in a sport desperate for domestic recognition and plaudits-you would think that his team DS and team mates would be very protective of him if racism were in play in much the same way football clubs with condemn inappropriate behaviour from players or fans? His DS would probably love to turn round and say 'this is just racism' instead of copping the shit PR of him being demoted for punching another rider or purposely disrupting a train because he can't win. Instead you've two French teams give up on him because he gives every appearance of being unmanageable and creates more negative PR than his wins bring through frequent bust ups.
I'm no fan of Cav but at least most of his shit-list are genuine racing incidents of one kind or another, often where he's come away worse off, not lamping people in the face.
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You mean apart from punching Jack Bauer, headbutting Katusha riders, being DQ'd twice in 2016 for forcing riders into the barriers?
Is not being charged for punching someone the new gold standard of professionalism for a rider that is being paid 1.5 million euros a year to keep his shit together? Is it not fair to describe someone who aspires to be a pro boxer after his cycling career, loved being a cop, does boxing moves in celebration of a sprint win, and has multiple instances of violent outbursts, as having a tendency towards confrontation? I don't see an issue with it personally.
It's also worth noting he's benefited from generous commissaire's decisions that have seen other (non french) riders dq'd for the same offence i.e Sagan 2017. You'd think as marked as he was by these racist attitudes he'd have had the boot stuck in him twice as hard?
This Cycling Tips article takes a pretty good, fair look at him and doesn't mention or infer any kind of racist alterior motives.
https://cyclingtips.com/2017/03/nacer-bouhanni-fighting-for-respect-in-the-pro-peloton/
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The Jack Bauer punch never even landed. Bauer himself described it as a racing incident that happens and thought any punishment was harsh.
The ‘headbutt’ was part of a fight for position, it happens often, riders get disqualified and move on.
Your twisting events to fit your narrative.
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No, it's your narrative that he's unfairly being set upon for his race. I'm providing examples of when he's been publicly violent, and Bauer never said the punch never landed-but equally if he's being unfairly targeted Bauer could have made much more of it.
If you don't want that incident there was two others in 2017, elbowing Maldonado in the Tour de l'Ain in August, at Paris–Bourges he had to be separated from Rudy Barbier, 2016 gets canned from the tour for punching a 57 year old German man (who also claimed Bouhanni's brother was present and kicked him in the head) and his run in with Kristoff that was roundly condemned: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/no-penalties-come-from-criterium-du-dauphine-sprint-but-riders-call-foul/
As someone who himself cultivates a public image based on fighting and states "boxing is my passion cycling is my job" I don't understand how or why after you propose this is racism in action you're trying to flip this into my 'narrative' but hey... Three DS's have now shitcanned him for acting up then mouthing off in the press and they must have swastikas tattooed on their chests.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bouhanni-to-turn-to-boxing-after-his-cycling-career/
https://lequipe-photo.blogs.lequipe.fr/lens_portfolio/nacer-bouhanni/ -
Yet you’re judging him because he boxes and enjoyed his national service, somehow that makes him a thug?
Madiot didn’t have the budget to keep him, Demare and Pinot and made a decision to let Bouhanni go. That’s his prerogative, but he didn’t ‘shit can’ him.
Cedric Vasseur is a cretin, yet another example of bad decision making by Cofidis, the company, of appointing cretins to run Cofidis, the team. The results never improve so they blame the riders, Bouhanni is the latest example in a long, long history.
My view is that Bouhanni is similar to other sprinters, he gets involved in incidents like them, he makes public comments that make you cringe like them, especially in the heat of the moment after races, yet he is demonised by the cycling press as being a thug. Other sprinters don’t get demonised in the same way, so my hunch is that it is because he is of North African descent.
You seem to have bought into that narrative.
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Madiot decided to let him go publicly because of budget, yes, but is also on record citing the conflict between Bouhanni and Demare, then shitcanned him for the remainder of the season after he did an interview slagging the team off.
Sanquer got booted for Vasseur by all accounts because Bouhanni didn't like him.
Vasseur's defended Bouhanni throughout his time there, even after punch-gate, until after being withdrawn from MSR for not being fit enough, Bouhanni again went out and slagged his team off to the press.
The only narrative I'm buying into is that the guy is an arsehole, just as much as I think Cav's a monumental bell end too. I don't see him being 'demonised' by anyone and you've presented no evidence of it and are instead either dismissing examples of him being violent and saying I'm calling him a 'thug'-a word I never used.
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He’s a spikey, petulant character as are a lot of sprinters, and all have a lot a detractors. I mean Cav’s critics are legion, and he has a similar approach to Bouhanni but I will say he is more of a team player than Nacer. I just can’t buy into the racist angle though, not from a personal experience of reading cycling media a lot.
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@dancing james
He had a horrific crash at the Tour of Yorkshire, the lingering effects of which undermined his Tour preparation.
All sprinters have disagreements with other riders, it comes with the territory. They also tend to be aggressive characters off the bike too. Everyone cites the fight he had prior to the 2016 Tour as evidence of his character, but he was never charged with a criminal offence.
I do wonder if the criticism he gets is partly driven by his North African heritage.