It has been eight months since Team Arkea Samsic's Nasser Bouhanni has competed in a bicycle race, but the newly promoted WorldTour team expects the French sprinter to return in six to seven weeks in good spirits for his fourth season.

Bouhanni was involved in a high-speed, multi-rider crash involving spectators on the second stage of the Tour of Turkey last April. He suffered a fractured first cervical vertebra. He called the crash a "nightmare" and estimated that the group was rushing at 55 mph when the impact occurred.

He spent the rest of the season off the bike to recover and spend time with his family. He took part in the Tour de France 2023 route presentation in Paris in October and returned to the trainer in November. The team announced a tentative schedule for the 32-year-old, one of the team leaders, and said he could be on the start line as early as January 25 at the Challenge Ciclista Mallorca in Spain.

"We know that Nasser often wins several races during the season. That is why we created a program for him at the beginning of the year. The goal of this first competition is to restore his confidence and get him performing again soon," sport manager Theo Ubrard said today on the team's website.

"In Tirreno - Adriatico, there will probably be less pressure. Because his performance will be in the one-day races, where he has a chance to win, without neglecting the stage races; after 2022, the resumption of the one-day events will be a priority."

Bouhanni began his 2022 campaign in Spain with a runner-up finish at the Clasica de Almeria, and before his crash in Turkey, he had four podium finishes, including a win at the La Rue Tourangelle Center Val de Loire.

The Etoile de Besseges, to be held February 1-5, is an option to kick off his return to racing. However, he will start with the team's other leader, Warren Barguil, at the Challenge Ciclista Mallorca a week earlier.

"Warren's program at the start of the season is basically the same as last year. However, due to his mid-term goals, he is a little lighter in weight. Therefore, he will run a little less at the start of the 2023 season," Uvral said of the all-rounder's season, which begins in Mallorca on January 25-28.

"We also made the choice that he will compete again in Milan-San Remo. If a group of 20 or so appears at the top of Poggio, it could certainly be one of our best cards. Warren will be the leader of the entire Italian front at the start of the season."

When Bouhanni last competed in Arkea-Samsic, the team was in its 12th season as a professional team, always a wildcard team in the Tour de France, with three podium finishes in 2021; when it returned to racing in 2023, the team entering its first year with WorldTour status. The team's consistent results, including 13 top-10 finishes in last year's one-day race for Barguil, earned the team a promotion.

Bouhanni and Barguil will team up for the Tirreno-Adriatico race on March 8-12. Barguil won stage 5 of the Italian stage race last year, while Buhanni's best result was fourth on stage 3.

The team is currently participating in its first training camp of the new season, which will take place in Spain from December 12-19.