Nacer Bouhanni looks to prove himself against top sprinters at Tirreno-Adriatico - "I believe it is possible"

The previous season was plagued with difficulty for Team Arkéa Samsic rider Nacer Bouhanni.

He encountered a serious setback during the Tour of Turkey that nearly resulted in paralysis.

He has returned to cycling this season with a fierce determination to prove his worth, and is recently participated in the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var.

“In my pro career I fell and fell several times, it's true,” he told DirectVelo. He continues, “ But if you start to see only the negative things, to tell yourself that you are unlucky, you can no longer go on. There are also others who have taken beatings of course, I've had some good ones. But the most important thing is to be able to recover.”

SPRING - Click here to create your own team for the Fantasy Spring Classics Men. 1st prize is $1,600/€1,500/£1,330!!

Although he crashed again during Trofeo Palma, he refused to let it get the best of him.

“The legs are quite good. These are races with a lot of elevation gain, so they're not good for me, but we had to get back to racing after the crash in Mallorca. I went to recover certain automatisms and get back to my physical level first of all. I still have some pain in my ribs, although it's getting better and better.”

Although he is slated to participate in the Faun Drôme Classic, it is the forthcoming Tirreno-Adriatico that truly piques his interest as it offers an opportunity to go head-to-head with the world's top sprinters. “I hope I can do my first real sprint at the Tirreno-Adriatico if all goes well.

Only then will I know where I stand. It will be my first sprint since the Tour of Turkey and it will immediately be WorldTour level. But I hope I can do good things right away. I believe it is possible. Either way, I'm on the right track,” concluded Bouhanni.