Tour de France: Nacer Bouhanni withdrawn after hotel altercation
By Matt Westby
Last Updated: 29/06/16 12:18pm
Sprinter Nacer Bouhanni has been withdrawn from the Tour de France after requiring surgery on a hand injury sustained in an altercation at the French National Road Race Championship last weekend.
According to his Cofidis team, Bouhanni and his brother asked a group who were making noise in an adjacent hotel room to quieten down in the early hours of Sunday morning, which resulted in a scuffle.
The 25-year-old Frenchman needed four stitches to a cut in his hand and although he had to abandon the national road race later that day, Cofidis were confident their star rider could still start the Tour.
However, the team announced on Wednesday that the wound had been "poorly supported" and had required surgery, ruling Bouhanni out of cycling's showpiece race.
A statement said: "Nacer Bouhanni will not take the start of the Tour de France 2016. It turned out that the wound was poorly supported.
"Faced with the deterioration of the situation, Nacer had surgery on Tuesday at 18h at the CHU de Nancy. The decision was made not to take any risk to the health of the athlete, who now needs rest to focus on new goals."
Bouhanni, who is one of the world's leading sprinters and had been expected to challenge for stage wins at the Tour, has been replaced by Nicolas Edet.
Cofidis will now focus on challenging in the mountains with Daniel Navarro and Arnold Jeannesson.
Follow every stage of the Tour de France with our live blogs from 1pm BST each day.
