Bouhanni speaks out following racial abuse after sprint incident
In a series of posts to his Instagram story on Monday, Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic) shared screenshots depicting numerous instances of racist abuse that has been directed at him following his relegation from Cholet-Pays de la Loire.
Bouhanni was penalized after riding Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) into the barriers in the final sprint of the French one-day on March 28.
Since then, Bouhanni has been the target of racially abusive posts and messages on social media in multiple different languages. He posted several different examples of the abuse on his own story on Monday and then posted a statement of his own.
“Hello to all the little jokers who have been amusing themselves for a week by writing to me personally or commenting on certain cycling websites that I should return to Africa, that I am a criminal, that I am a North African who needs to be interned and who are constantly sending me [pig emojis],” Bouhanni wrote in a post shared to his Instagram story.
“Know that I was born in France and that I am going to file a complaint, because I have been putting up with this for a long time already and I’ve kept silent, but this time I won’t let it go anymore.”
Several of Bouhanni’s teammates and others around the peloton, as well as his Arkéa-Samsic team, have since posted messages in support of Bouhanni and condemning the abuse that he has received.
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