After a good amateur career, which saw him winning the national cycling military championships, he signed a contract with in 2011. In January he got his first professional stage win in La Tropicale Amissa Bongo. Bouhanni won his first stage of the 2012 season by winning stage 1 of the Étoile de Bessèges. Later that season he got his breakthrough win by winning the French National Road Race Championships ahead of his teammate Arnaud Démare. He also rode his first Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España, where his best finish was second on stage 10. The 2013 season started well with a stage win in the Tour of Oman. Afterwards he rode Paris–Nice, where he got a stage win and the leader's jersey, however he crashed out of the race the very next day. He rode the Giro d'Italia, where he finished second to Mark Cavendish on the first stage, but abandoned on stage 13. He also rode his first Tour de France in 2013, however he got sick and retired after a crash on stage 5. The 2014 season was very successful for Bouhanni, with numerous wins including three victories in the Giro d'Italia as well as earning the points classification. In the Vuelta a España, Bouhanni won two mass sprints, Stages 2 and 8. The latter saw a battle occur in the crosswinds and Bouhanni managed to stay with the first group on the road to win the sprint ahead of Michael Matthews and Peter Sagan. After withdrawing from the Vuelta, Bouhanni gave an interview where he was critical of the FDJ management. As a response, Marc Madiot sidelined him for the remainder of the season, at the end of which Bouhanni left the team for.
Cofidis (2015–19)
He had to wait until April 2015 to get his first victory for his new team on the opening stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe in a bunch sprint as the breakaway was caught inside the final kilometre. He also won the last stage of the event. A little later on that month, he won the Grand Prix de Denain for the second year in a row. He won his team's first UCI World Tour race of the season on stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in a bunch sprint. He added a win on Stage 4 after a hectic finale which saw a flurry of attacks. Bouhanni was forced to withdraw from the 2015 Tour de France after a crash at the mark of Stage 5. In 2016, Bouhanni won stage 1 of the Volta a Catalunya and took the leader's jersey. Bouhanni had to withdraw from the French National Road Race Championships due to a hand injury sustained in an altercation with fellow guests at a hotel the night before the race. The injury also caused him to withdraw from the Tour de France. On 21 August, Bouhanni initially won the EuroEyes Cyclassics but he was later relegated for irregular sprinting.
Arkéa–Samsic
In October 2019, Bouhanni signed for the team.
Incidents
Bouhanni was penalised one minute time for hitting another rider, Jack Bauer, in the 2017 Tour de France. The race jury also levied a fine of 200 Swiss francs. Bouhanni was also investigated after contact with Anthony Maldonado at the end of a stage in the Tour de l'Ain in August. The race jury decided to take no action. Later in 2017, after the Paris–Bourges race, Bouhanni had to be separated from Rudy Barbier, who had won the race. Bouhanni subsequently apologised for his behaviour, but maintained that Barbier had ridden dangerously and irregularly in the finishing sprint. In May 2018, French sports newspaper L'Équipe reported that Bouhanni had been involved in a "violent altercation" with Cofidis directeur sportif Roberto Damiani on the team's bus following the Eschborn–Frankfurt race, which Bouhanni did not finish.
