Nacer Bouhanni: "I would trade my 70 shit wins for my health"

Team Arkéa Samsic have been on a tremendous season so far, however at the Tour of Turkey their luck reversed as both Nairo Quintana and Nacer Bouhanni crashed out of the race. The latter, with serious injuries which have put a dent on the Frenchman.

On an interview with L'Équipe, Bouhanni mentioned that "after the ecography, the doctors said that it was very serious and that I ran the risk of paralysis, I fractured my C1 vertebra, so my recovery will be very long. The rest I don't know, now I only hope to recover. Today I would trade my 70 shit wins for my health".

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"Fall, get up, come back. 3 words that I know a little about," the Frenchman said ironically on his Instagram page. "I am still in shock at the violence with which I hit the gentleman who was walking on the road head-on during the 2nd stage of the Tour of Turkey." In what was a freak accident, Bouhanni was unlucky to be in the position where he couldn't avoid a pedestrian who was on the road and unaware of the incoming peloton which led to a mass-crash.

"We were at about 55km/h during the impact... so I couldn't anticipate anything, I just have this image, again, which keeps coming to my mind, and where I see two people in front of me on the road !!! It really is a nightmare. Really, I'm at a point... I'm not used to writing a text like this on social networks, but I can't understand how this could have happened!!" he added.

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The Frenchman is no stranger to injuries, over his career he has suffered plenty. He was forced to miss out on the 2016 Tour de France after an altercation with a drunk hotel guest the weekend before the race, and in 2017 he suffered head injuries in a crash at the Tour of Yorkshire which almost caused him to loose eyesight. Earlier this year he suffered a concussion in a training accident, however he still managed to start his season in February at the Clasica de Almeria where he finished second.

Although only having gotten one win this year - at La Roue Tourangelle - he has been very consistent with an additional four podium spots, including the Classic De Panne-Brugge and Milano-Torino where he faced world-class competition. He was targeting a big win at the Tour of Turkey, but his goals were shattered on a road after a brutal crash.

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"Psychologically it is very hard for me, I thought of the worst until my arrival in Paris and I still thank enormously the neurosurgeon of the Paris Bizet clinic, Dr. Georges Abi Lahoud, for my care, my manager Manu Hubert, DS Yvon Ledanois, for being by my side so that everything went as well as possible, until my repatriation. Now, my recovery is going to be very long, because I fractured my C1 cervical. The rest I do not know… Now, I just hope to recover. Thank you all again for your messages of support," he concluded.