Nacer Bouhanni ended his cycling career at the end of 2023, but the Frenchman has hardly been idle since. Two years ago, he competed in his first running race and has since fully dedicated himself to the sport. This weekend he once again showed his class with a blazing-fast marathon time.
We actually already knew that Bouhanni could hold his own as a runner since the 2024 Frankfurt Marathon. The former rider of FDJ, Cofidis and Arkéa-Samsic recorded a phenomenally fast time of two hours, 34 minutes and 36 seconds there. And that was at his very first marathon ever.
But he can go even faster, as Bouhanni proved during the Valencia Marathon. The ex-pro cyclist ran a time of two hours and 31 minutes, averaging an impressive 3:34/km, setting a personal record. The men’s world record is held by Kelvin Kiptum (Kenya) with 2:00:35.
And now Nacer Bouhanni just completed the Valencia Marathon in 2h31, averaging 3:34/km. Crazy. 🤯 https://t.co/KSU6r7fWW9 pic.twitter.com/GCJojX7z6u
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) December 7, 2025
Bouhanni can look back on a very successful cycling career despite a journey full of ups and downs. His palmarès includes no less than seventy professional victories. The Frenchman turned pro in 2011 with FDJ, where he quickly made a name for himself and emerged as a top sprinter.
He won three stages and the points classification at the Giro d’Italia, three stages in the Vuelta a España, and also tasted success in races like Paris-Nice, the Tour of Catalonia, and the Critérium du Dauphiné. His last victory, La Roue Tourangelle, came as recently as 2022.
The fast man will not only be remembered for his winning sprints. Due to his occasionally unorthodox and dangerous sprint behavior, he was not always popular among fellow riders. In 2021, for instance, he was even suspended for two months because of dangerous conduct during the final sprint of the Cholet-Pays de la Loire.
