Bouhanni gets his biff on

Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) took a solid swing at Jack Bauer (Quick-Step Floors) in the closing kilometres of Stage 10 of the Tour de France.

Nacer Bouhanni ihas spoken before about a post cycling career in boxing Source: Getty Images

The incident happened approximately seven kilometres from the finish line in Bergerac. Bauer appeared to bump into Bouhanni from the right side of the road. Bouhanni looked to see who caused the incident, and took a swing at Bauer with his right arm.

The two men kept their bikes upright preventing a peloton pile up as the bunch approached the home stretch. Bauer chose not to relatiate. 

The race jury fined Bouhanni 200 swiss francs ($271.70) for "an assault on another rider" and issued a time penalty of one minute on the overall standings. Bouhanni, whose best result in this year's Tour so far is a fourth place finish on Stage 4, sprinted to sixth behind stage winner, Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors).

Critics suggest the penalty of a few francs and time on the GC is hardly a penalty at all, especially for a sprinter, and particularly given Peter Sagan's (BORA-hansgrohe) dramatic expulsion from the Tour last week.

This is not the first time Bouhanni's fists have gotten him into trouble. In 2016, he started the French national road championships with four stitches in his hand. This was due to a punch up in the early hours of the morning with some intoxicated, noisy guests in the corridor of the hotel where Bouhanni was staying before the race. 

Bouhanni's Cofidis team made no mention of the incident in their summary of the stage, saying instead that there were "no surprises" in the 10th stage of the Tour and that Bouhanni's result is his fifth top ten finish of this year's event so far. 

"I had better legs today than the previous days, which were difficult because I was sick, under antibiotics for four days," said Bouhanni, perhaps under pressure to perform.

"It was Kittel's fourth victory in five sprints. There is not much to face him. I hope to find the opening and why not as early as Wednesday in Pau."

The 26-year-old French racer uses boxing as part of his cross-training for cycling. He has said before that he wants to follow a career in the ring after his time as a pro cyclist. Last night's incident suggests he may be making the transition a little early.