French cyclist Bouhanni says torrent of racist abuse is ‘too much’

Former French street race champion Nacer Bouhanni says he has acquired “hundreds” of racist messages on social media since his shoulder cost on British rider Jake Stewart.

“It’s too much now, it’s turned into harassment,” the 30-year-old sprinter instructed Tuesday’s L’Equipe.

The interview with the French sports activities day by day adopted his announcement on Instagram on Monday that he meant to take authorized motion over the spate of racist abuse sparked by the March 28 incident on the Cholet-Pays de Loire race the place Stewart broke his hand when pressured into railings.

“I’m not the only one to see what’s going on on social media.

“Why would not anybody do something when these type of lowlife individuals are persistently telling me I’m a ‘pig’ or a ‘terrorist’, or ‘return to your soiled north African nation’,” he told the paper.

Bouhanni, who said he was suffering from insomnia as a result of the abuse, continued: “It’s like a scar that is closed, however is reopening little by little as the times go, and that is what hurts.

“I was born in France, I love my country, I was French champion when I was 21, being on the podium with the Marseillaise playing was one of the best moments of my career.

“I’m proud of my identify, I’m proud of my roots, I’m French with north African origins, that is the way it is.”

He said he had never been the target of racism in the peloton nor in any of his teams, “however exterior of competitors, for positive I’ve had it”.

Bouhanni’s team Arkea-Samsic backed their rider’s stand against racism on Monday.

“Nacer Bouhanni has suffered violent assaults of a racist nature over the previous week, primarily on social media,” his team said.

“He has determined to take authorized motion and we provide him our full assist.”

Bouhanni has 69 victories, including three Giro d’Italia stages and three in the Vuelta a Espana, but his career has been punctuated by altercations.

On the 2017 Tour de France, he was fined for hitting New Zealander Jack Bauer and later that season he had to be pulled off compatriot Rudy Barbieri who had just won Paris-Bourges.

Cycling’s governing body the UCI “strongly condemned the harmful conduct” of Bouhanni within the dash end final month. Bouhanni denied he had acted dangerously.

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