2015 Tour de Yorkshire

The 2015 Tour de Yorkshire was a cycling stage race that took place in Yorkshire in May 2015. It was the first edition of the Tour de Yorkshire and was organised by Welcome to Yorkshire and the Amaury Sport Organisation, who also organised the Yorkshire stages of the 2014 Tour de France. The race started in Bridlington on 1 May and ended in Leeds on 3 May. It included three stages and was rated as a 2.1 event as part of the 2015 UCI Europe Tour.

The first stage of the race was won by Lars Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) in a sprint from a small group. He kept his lead through the second stage, which ended in a bunch sprint, and was able to extend it slightly in the third and final stage of the race. He won the general classification in the race by eleven seconds. Samuel Sánchez (BMC Racing Team) was second and Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) was third. Nordhaug also won the points classification and Team Sky won the teams classification. The mountains classification was won by Nicolas Edet (Cofidis).

The race was first discussed publicly in July 2014, after the first stages of the Tour de France that took place in Yorkshire. It was organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation, the organisers of the Tour de France, and Welcome to Yorkshire, who had been the organisers of the Yorkshire stages of the 2014 Tour de France. On 22 December 2014, the start and finish locations for the event were released, these were Bridlington, Leeds, Scarborough, Selby, Wakefield and York. On 21 January 2015, details of the three stages of the route were unveiled at the Bridlington Spa. The first two stages (especially the second) were expected to suit the sprinters, while the third stage was described as the "queen stage". It included several roads and climbs that had been part of the second stage of the 2014 Tour de France between York and Sheffield. The stage was rated as a 2.1 event.

There was also a women's race that took place as part of the Tour de Yorkshire event. This took place on the second day of the men's race over four laps of the 20-kilometre (12-mile) route around York that was also the final part of the men's racing that day. Lizzie Armitstead, who did not compete in the event due to a conflicting event in Europe, expressed a hope that the women's race in future would be a three-day event like the men's race. The women's race was won by Louise Mahé (Ikon–Mazda) in a sprint finish.

18 teams were selected to take part in the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire. Five of these were UCI WorldTeams; six were UCI Professional Continental teams; six were UCI Continental teams, with the Great Britain national team completing the field. Teams could enter between five and eight riders. Fourteen teams selected eight riders and four teams selected seven; 140 riders were therefore entered into the race. One rider (Caleb Fairly of Team Giant–Alpecin) pulled out before the start, so the race began with a peloton of 139 riders.

UCI WorldTeams

UCI Professional Continental teams

UCI Continental teams