2015 Tour of Qatar

The 2015 Tour of Qatar was the 14th edition of the Tour of Qatar cycling stage race. It was organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organisers of the Tour de France. The race was rated as a 2.HC event, the second highest rating an event can receive, and was part of the 2015 UCI Asia Tour.

The 2015 race consisted of six stages. It started in Dukhan on 8 February 2015 and finished on 13 February in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. The Tour of Qatar puts unusual demands on riders: it has no significant climbs, but almost every stage is affected by strong crosswinds. These conditions make the race ideal preparation for the spring classics season, so many prominent classics riders were present. The flat stages, suitable for sprinters, and individual time trial meant that specialists in these disciplines also chose to ride in Qatar.

The race was won by Dutch rider Niki Terpstra of Etixx–Quick-Step. It was the second successive year that Terpstra won the race after his victory in 2014; it was the fourth successive victory for Etixx–Quick-Step and eighth overall in Qatar. Terpstra took the lead of the race with victory in the third stage of the race, the individual time trial, and held the lead of the race to the finish. Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff–Saxo) took second place, six seconds behind Terpstra; Alexander Kristoff won stages 2, 4 and 5 on the way to finishing third, nine seconds off the overall lead.

In the race's other classifications, Kristoff won the silver jersey of the points classification, thanks to his three stage wins. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo) was the winner of the pearl white jersey of the young rider classification as he was the highest placed rider born after 1 January 1990. The team classification was won by Etixx–Quick-Step.

The Tour of Qatar was one of the early races in the season, coming in the middle of three races in the Middle East (alongside the Dubai Tour and the Tour of Oman) that saw high levels of participation from the top European teams. The race was particularly popular as a preparation race for riders aiming for the spring classics. The significant challenge in the Tour of Qatar was the strong winds across the desert, which frequently caused the peloton to split into echelons. As well as attracting the top classics riders, the flat nature of the course meant many stages could be won by sprinters; the individual time trial also attracted many of the time trial specialists, who had a chance of overall victory.

Etixx–Quick-Step had dominated the race since it began. This included winning the last three editions (with Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish and Niki Terpstra). Boonen had won the overall race on four previous occasions, as well as winning 22 stages. Boonen and Terpstra were both among the favourites for the overall victory, along with world time-trial champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).

Marcel Kittel (Team Giant–Alpecin) was the most prominent sprinter to travel to Qatar, alongside Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha), and several others.

18 teams were selected to take part in the event, including 13 UCI WorldTeams. Each team was permitted to include between five and eight riders. 15 teams had the full allowance of eight riders; 3 teams had seven-man teams. The race therefore began with 141 riders. 9 of these withdrew during the course of the event; 132 finished the final stage.