The 2015 Paris–Nice was the 73rd edition of the Paris–Nice stage race. It took place from 8 to 15 March and was the second race of the 2015 UCI World Tour following the Tour Down Under. The race was a return to the traditional format of Paris−Nice after an unorthodox course in 2014. It started in Yvelines, west of Paris, with a prologue time trial; the course then moved south through France with several stages suitable for sprinters. The decisive part of the race began on stage four with a summit finish at the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret; stage six also had a mountainous route. The race ended after seven days with the climb of the Col d'Èze outside Nice.
The 2014 champion, Carlos Betancur (), chose not to defend his title. The early lead in the race was taken by Michał Kwiatkowski () in the prologue; he kept the lead until stage three, when Michael Matthews took over the race lead through time bonuses. Stage four was won by Richie Porte (), while Kwiatkowski took back the race lead. On stage six, a chaotic stage in rainy conditions, Tony Gallopin () won and took over the race lead, but he was unable to defend his lead in the final-day time trial. Porte, the 2013 champion, won the general classification as well as two stages. Kwiatkowski finished second overall, with Simon Špilak () on the same time in third place.
The points classification was won by Matthews, who had four top-ten finishes as well as his stage win. The mountains classification was won by Thomas De Gendt (). Kwiatkowski won the young riders classification as the best rider born after 1 January 1990. The teams classification was won by .
Teams As Paris–Nice was a UCI World Tour event, all 17 UCI WorldTeams were invited automatically and were obliged to send a squad. Three Professional Continental teams received wildcard invitations.
Pre-race favourites Paris–Nice overlapped with another UCI World Tour race, Tirreno–Adriatico. In 2015, the Italian race attracted the main Grand Tour riders, such as Alberto Contador (), Chris Froome (), Vincenzo Nibali () and Nairo Quintana (). Only one former Grand Tour champion, Bradley Wiggins (), chose to compete in Paris–Nice.
The favourites for the race included the 2013 champion, Richie Porte (), the 2011 champion, Tony Martin () and the 2014 world champion, Michał Kwiatkowski (). Other riders considered to have a chance of victory included Geraint Thomas (), who had just won the Volta ao Algarve, Romain Bardet and Jean-Christophe Péraud (both ), Tejay van Garderen (), Andrew Talansky () and Rui Costa ().
Paris–Nice was also raced by many classics riders preparing for the Spring Classics and especially Milan–San Remo, which followed just a few days later. Riders expected to feature on the flatter days included classics specialists such as Alexander Kristoff (), John Degenkolb (), Arnaud Démare () and Philippe Gilbert () and sprinters like Nacer Bouhanni () and André Greipel ().
Route The previous edition had been an unusual race with no time trials or summit finishes, but the 2015 edition of the race was a return to the traditional form: the race began with a prologue individual time trial near Paris; this was followed by a series of road stages south through France, including one summit finish; the race ended with a mountain time trial on the Col d'Èze. The race, known as the "race to the Sun", was seen as a mini-Tour de France, where riders needed to be both competent time-trialists and capable of climbing mountains. The key stages were expected to be the summit finish on the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret on stage 4 and the concluding time trial on the Col d'Èze.
+Stage characteristics and winnersStageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinnerP8 March Maurepas Individual time trial 19 March Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse to Contres Flat stage 210 March ZooParc de Beauval to Saint-Amand-Montrond Flat stage 311 March Saint-Amand-Montrond to Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule Flat stage 412 March Varennes-sur-Allier to Croix de Chaubouret Mountain stage 513 March Saint-Étienne to Rasteau Hilly stage 614 March Vence to Nice Mountain stage 715 March Nice to Col d'Èze Individual time trial
Stages Prologue 8 March 2015 — Maurepas to Maurepas, , individual time trial (ITT)
The race began with a prologue individual time trial in the Yvelines department. The prologue was flat, with three major turns. The riders included four of the top five of previous year's world time trial championships in Bradley Wiggins (), Tony Martin (), Tom Dumoulin () and Rohan Dennis ().
The first rider to set off in the race was Daniel McLay (). Dylan van Baarle () was the leader for a significant period, with a time of 8' 04". The lead was briefly held by Giacomo Nizzolo () and Tiago Machado (). Their times were beaten by Dennis, who recorded a time of 7' 40". Dennis held the lead for an hour and a half, until he was beaten by Michał Kwiatkowski by less than a second. Kwiatkowski's time was enough to beat all the other riders. He therefore took the yellow jersey of the overall leader, as well as the green jersey of the points leader and the white jersey of the best young rider. The absence of categorised climbs meant that no polka-dot jersey was awarded.
Stage 1 9 March 2015 — Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse to Contres,
The first road stage of the race took the riders over an almost entirely flat course south from Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse to Contres. There was one climb in the day's racing – the Côte de Bel Air – after .
The first breakaway of the day came from Jonathan Hivert (). He attacked alone and took both maximum mountain points and the victory at the first intermediate sprint. Despite at one point having a lead of nearly four minutes, he sat up and was caught by the peloton. Michael Matthews (), in eighth place after the prologue, took second place in the intermediate sprint to win two bonus seconds, moving him to ten seconds behind Michał Kwiatkowski, while John Degenkolb () took a second for finishing third.
The next significant move was made by Hivert's teammate, Anthony Delaplace, who broke away with Thomas Voeckler (). The two remained in the breakaway for most of the rest of the stage, which was raced at a very slow pace. Delaplace and Voeckler had a lead of over six minutes, but the peloton gradually chased them down. With remaining, they had about a minute's lead and Voeckler forced an acceleration. Their lead extended to over 1' 40" with remaining, and they won the final intermediate sprint. Geraint Thomas () took the bonus second for third place. The breakaway still had over 40 seconds' lead with remaining, but were caught by the sprinters' teams from the finish line.
Degenkolb was the first rider to start the sprint in a disorganised finale to the stage, but he was not able to maintain his speed and finished outside the top ten. The stage was won by Alexander Kristoff () ahead of Nacer Bouhanni () and Bryan Coquard (). Kwiatkowski therefore maintained his lead in the general, points and youth classifications, while Hivert took the polka dot jersey of the mountains classification.
from the end of the stage, Tom Boonen clashed wheels while riding at the back of the peloton. He fell on his shoulder and, after receiving medical attention, abandoned the race with a suspected broken collarbone. That evening, it was announced that, though his collarbone was not broken, he had suffered a dislocation in his shoulder and would miss the Spring Classics season, including his principal targets at Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.
Stage 2 10 March 2015 — ZooParc de Beauval (Saint-Aignan) to Saint-Amand-Montrond,
The second road stage was a route from the ZooParc de Beauval to the town of Saint-Amand-Montrond. The first part of the route was a route southeast. The riders then entered a finishing circuit; they first rode the final of the circuit, before doing a complete lap. The route was again mostly flat, with just one categorised climb. This was the Côte de la Tour and came as part of the finishing circuit.
The first breakaway of the day was formed by Arnaud Gérard (), who escaped alone and earned a lead of over eight minutes, with the peloton riding slowly behind. Gerard won both intermediate sprints. On the first, Alexander Kristoff () took second place to win two bonus seconds. John Degenkolb(), who had come third and won a one-second bonus in the first sprint, took second place in the second sprint ahead of Michael Matthews ().
The chase was led by and and Gerard had less than a minute's lead at the Côte de la Tour. Philippe Gilbert (), Jonathan Hivert () and Laurens De Vreese () attacked over the climb, with Hivert winning a point for the mountains classification and maintaining his lead in the competition. The race came back together with approximately left to race.
The following period of racing was relatively calm, without attacks and with controlling the pace. With remaining, however, Tony Martin () attacked and was joined by Geraint Thomas (), Lars Boom () and Matti Breschel (). Breschel suffered a puncture and dropped out of the move, but Martin, Thomas and Boom continued their breakaway attempt. Several riders, including Rui Costa (), made unsuccessful attempts to bridge across to the leading group. The chase in the main peloton was led by and the leading group was caught with remaining.
The first team to move forward in the sprint was , with following soon afterwards. Greg Henderson, however, was the penultimate man in the train; his lead-out brought André Greipel to a perfect position to open his sprint. Arnaud Démare () came close, but Greipel was able to win the stage. Degenkolb took third place and, with bonus seconds taken into account, was just two seconds behind Michał Kwiatkowski.
Stage 3 11 March 2015 — Saint-Amand-Montrond to Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule,
The third stage started where stage two had ended, Saint-Amand-Montrond, and took the riders over a route to the finish line in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule. The route started with a route, initially heading south-east before turning north in the final part of the stage. The riders then entered another finishing circuit. They first rode the final of the circuit, then did an entire lap. There was a short climb and two corners in the final kilometre of the stage.
The first break of the day was formed by Philippe Gilbert () and Florian Vachon () after . Bradley Wiggins () and Antoine Duchesne () attempted to bridge across to the leading pair; Wiggins was first to drop back, while Duchesne was never able to get closer than two minutes to the pair ahead. Bob Jungels () took third place in the first intermediate sprint. At the first mountains sprint, Gilbert crossed the line first to win four points and take the lead of the mountains classification. Following repeated attacks from the peloton behind, Gilbert and Vachon were joined after by Thomas Voeckler (). Gilbert then won the two other third-category climbs, earning a nine-point lead in the classification.
With remaining, Gilbert, Vachon and Voeckler still had a five-minute lead, with the sprinters' teams joining Michał Kwiatkowski's team in chasing the breakaway down. With left to race, the lead was cut to 43 seconds, and Gilbert dropped out of the break with remaining. Vachon was next to drop out of the leading group; Voeckler was then joined by Paolo Tiralongo (). Voeckler himself then fell back, while Tiralongo was joined by riders Jan Bakelants and Romain Bardet. This group of three riders held a gap of approximately 16 seconds, but were chased down by the peloton.