Nacer Bouhanni discussion thread

[hiero2]

Wow - searched the forum and did not find a thread for Bouhanni. I have to wonder if there is a thread - but his name is misspelled. Idk.

But with today's news - he now deserves it.
www.cyclingnews.com/news/fdj-sidelines-bouhanni-in-response-to-french-interview

This guy has gone, in my estimation, from a plus 3 for being a young, strong, fresh face (and French), to a negative 3 for being a pompous, self-centered airhead.

First, he whines about other riders "not keeping their line", when they apparently did. Then he pulls a dodgy move in stage 8 of the Vuelta (the swerve in the sprint does not look innocent and unintentional to me). Now he shoots off his mouth enough to **** Madiot off but good.

But that's all right. No problem. We need bad guys in the movie, right? Got to have black hats.

Btw - anybody got a link to a free copy of the interview? The original L'Equipe article seems to be behind a paywall.

 

[classicomano]

Hes just a massive tool. One can only hope he'll wither away asap.

 

[Arnout]

As I understand it in the interview he mentions that he never got communication from the team on his non-selections for MSR and the Tour, which bothered him. If true, I don't see the problem with saying things like that. I didn't like his complaining about sprinter lines though.

 

[Flamin]

Nacer is awesome.

 

[Akuryo]

Nacer is awesome.

As a cyclist, as a person or both?

 

[Flamin]

As a cyclist, as a person or both?

As a cyclist, but him coming across as a bit of an a**hole makes him even more likeable as a cyclist how he really is as a person, we don't know obviously.

 

[Arredondo]

Nacer is just completely right. He's got right to be angry after his non-selection for MSR. Demare is a little bit overrated, while Bouhanni get's all the **** over him despite winning 5 stages in GT's this year.

Go Nacer!

 

[hrotha]

Well I don't see anything in that article that explains why Madiot is so ****ed off, and I don't think it takes much for Madiot to get mad.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

He's a sprinter. Is he supposed to be overjoyed that his team didn't select him for the biggest races of a sprinter's season?

 

[Akuryo]

As a cyclist, but him coming across as a bit of an a**hole makes him even more likeable as a cyclist how he really is as a person, we don't know obviously.

Well put. Kind of the reason I like Kristoff (so much): his unfiltered mouth.

 

[Carols]

Well I have little love for sprinters, but his chasing for 13km in the Giro after a mechanical and getting up FTW impressed me. He should basically speak with his legs though!

 

[hiero2]

Yeah, apparently he should speak with his legs, and tell his mouth to shut up!

Somebody said Madiot was being temperamental - but I don't recall any other big news stories about Madiot being all prima donna-ish with temper and all. I'd like to know what Bouhanni actually said - but my thought in this would be to side with Madiot. Bouhanni hasn't seemed like a team player a couple too many times.

 

[qwerty16]

Madiot is probably just bitter because Bouhanni has made him look like a noob for choosing Demare over him by racking up the results in World Tour races, while Demare only shone in Dunkerque and Picardie.

As far as I can make up, the story in Equipe just kind of summarizes all the criticism Bouhanni expressed during this year.

 

[Ricco']

Yeah, apparently he should speak with his legs, and tell his mouth to shut up!

Somebody said Madiot was being temperamental - but I don't recall any other big news stories about Madiot being all prima donna-ish with temper and all. I'd like to know what Bouhanni actually said - but my thought in this would be to side with Madiot. Bouhanni hasn't seemed like a team player a couple too many times.

Bouhanni's legs have spoken really well this year. 11 wins, 6 in the World Tour charts versus 5 Demare's wins, no one in the World Tour. 11 wins to Bouhanni too in 2013, 2 in the World Tour against 8 of Demare, 2 in the World Tour too. And despite this Bouhanni is constantly relegated to take leadership where Demare doesn't want to ride. He have reasons to be angry, certainly.

Regarding Madiot, want more temperament than this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMmyyEOeVTs

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I've gotten more respect for him since he learned to climb though.

I always had him down as more of a pure sprinter. He'd shown a couple of times that he could survive in a mild punchy finish, but I always thought Demare was the one who was a more complete cyclist. I thought they were about equal in sprinting, but Demare was better in everything else; hence it's obvious he was preferred by his team. But Bouhanni has really worked hard on his climbing. I don't know where he learned to climb like that, but his climbing at Route du Sud and at this Vuelta was really good! Comparable to Degenkolb or Matthews or that type of rider!

Okay, he appears to have some issues off the bike (and also on the bike in the sprints), but it seems like he worked hard to improve his weakness, which ought to merit him some respect. I mean; if you asked a year ago whether the French should go for Demare or for Bouhanni, people would've laughed at you if you said Bouhanni. How is Bouhanni going to make the finish in a hilly race like that? But now Bouhanni is the obvious choice!

 

[kingjr]

Regarding Madiot, want more temperament than this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMmyyEOeVTs

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15mso_allez-totof_sport

0:43 onwards