The 2015 Critérium du Dauphiné was the 67th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné cycling stage race. The eight-stage race in France began in Ugine on 7 June and concluded in Modane Valfréjus on 14 June, and was the sixteenth of the twenty-eight races in the 2015 UCI World Tour season. The Dauphiné was viewed as a preview for July's Tour de France and a number of the contenders for the general classification of the Tour participated in the race.

The first leader of the general classification was 's Peter Kennaugh, who won the opening stage. He lost the race lead to rider Rohan Dennis, whose team won stage three's team time trial. His teammate Tejay van Garderen then took over after the race's first mountain stage, stage five. Vincenzo Nibali of the team took the lead after stage six, before van Garderen regained it following stage. Chris Froome (), who was second to van Garderen after the penultimate stage, claimed the race victory with his win on the final stage. Van Garderen finished second overall, ten seconds in arrears, with 's Rui Costa third, a further one minute and six seconds down.

In the race's other classifications, Nacer Bouhanni () won the sprinter's points classification. The mountains classification was won by 's Daniel Teklehaimanot, who achieved it by getting in the early breakaways and placing highly over categorised climbs. Simon Yates of won the young rider classification as the best rider born after 1 January 1990. The team classification was won by .

Teams

As the Critérium du Dauphiné was a UCI World Tour event, all seventeen UCI WorldTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Four second-tier UCI Professional Continental teams were given wildcard invitations, forming the race's 21-team peloton. The number of riders allowed per squad was eight, therefore the start list contained a total of 168 riders.

The teams entering the race were:

Pre-race favourites

Former winners of the general classification named in the start list were 2008 and 2009 winner Alejandro Valverde (), 2013 winner Chris Froome () and 2014 winner Andrew Talansky (). The leading contenders for general classification were two of the four Tour de France favourites, Froome and Vincenzo Nibali (). Both winners of the previous two Tours, they were thought to have planned to use the Dauphiné's likeness to Tour's mountainous route as preparation. The riders considered outsiders included Talansky, Valverde, Joaquim Rodríguez (), Tejay van Garderen (), Rui Costa (), Romain Bardet (), Bauke Mollema () and the winner of the young rider classification in 2014, Wilco Kelderman ().

Route

On 2 April 2015, the organiser of the race, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), announced the route of the 2015 Critérium du Dauphiné at a presentation in Lyon, France. The eight-stage race in the Dauphiné region of France was held from 7–14 June, and was seen as a preview for the Alpine stages in the Tour de France, which took place the following month. The race opened with a hilly circuit stage around Albertville. Stage two crossed the flat Dombes area west from Le Bourget-du-Lac to Villars-les-Dombes and covered a distance of . The third stage was a team time trial, the first since the 1980 edition. The route from Roanne to Montagny was described by Stephen Farrand of Cyclingnews.com as rolling and could "seriously influence" the general classification. Stage four, the longest at , moved the race south to Sisteron and to the Alps. The fifth stage covered the same distance and course as stage seventeen in the Tour de France. It featured the Col d'Allos mountain pass and ended with a summit finish at the Pra-Loup ski resort. Stage six took the race north, with the route from Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur to Villard-de-Lans including six climbs. The penultimate stage was another mountainous stage that featured the Col de la Croix Fry and Col des Aravis climbs before a final accent to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. The final stage took in the Lacets de Montvernier before moving through the Maurienne valley to the finish at Modane Valfréjus.

+Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 7 June Ugine to Albertville Hilly stage 2 8 June Le Bourget-du-Lac to Villars-les-Dombes Flat stage 3 9 June Roanne to Montagny Team time trial 4 10 June Anneyron to Sisteron Hilly stage 5 11 June Digne-les-Bains to Pra-Loup Mountain stage 6 12 June Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur to Villard-de-Lans Mountain stage 7 13 June Montmélian to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains Mountain stage 8 14 June Saint-Gervais-les-Bains to Modane Valfréjus Medium-mountain stage Total

Stages

Stage 1

7 June 2015 — Ugine to Albertville,

The race opened with its shortest race stage, at . The route left Ugine and passed the finishing city of Albertville, before a loop that featured the category 4 Côte d'Esserts-Blay, in. On the return to Albertville the riders crossed the finish line for the first time for a lap. In this lap were two climbs, the third-category Côte du Villard () and the fourth-category Côte du Cruet, the highest of the stage at . As the race crossed the finish line for the second time, a shorter circuit was undertaken five times, with the primary difference being the exclusion of the Côte du Cruet.

In the opening , Gert Dockx of was involved in a crash and was forced to abandon the race due to his injuries. After , a breakaway was formed by Romain Guillemois (), Björn Thurau (), Daniel Teklehaimanot () and Maarten Wynants (). Their advantage over the peloton increased to over four minutes at the mark, which moved up to a maximum of around seven minutes twenty seconds. Teklehaimanot accrued enough mountains classification points to secure the polka dot jersey with two climbs of the Côte du Villard to go.

Wijnants and Guillemois were dropped from the quartet on the penultimate ascent of the Villard, with to go. Thurau attacked Teklehaimanot on the last passing of the Villard, which led to an attack by Daniel Oss () from the chasing peloton. With remaining, four more riders joined Oss and the group caught Thurau in the final , with the six-rider group holding a margin of twelve seconds. Peter Kennaugh of attacked from the group with remaining and took the stage victory two seconds ahead of the bunch sprint. Kennaugh's first place gave him a ten-second time bonus in the general classification; he also took the lead of the points classification and Sky topped the team classification. Tiesj Benoot of became the first leader of the young rider classification.

+ Stage 1 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 2" 3 + 2" 4 + 2" 5 + 2" 6 + 2" 7 + 2" 8 + 2" 9 + 2" 10 + 2"+ General classification after stage 1 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 6" 3 + 8" 4 + 12" 5 + 12" 6 + 12" 7 + 12" 8 + 12" 9 + 12" 10 + 12"

Stage 2

8 June 2015 — Le Bourget-du-Lac to Villars-les-Dombes,

Stage two's course was the flattest of the race. The stage left the start at Le Bourget-du-Lac and within crossed the second-category Col du Chat. After five smaller climbs, in, the riders then came to the day's highest climb at , the first-category . The route then followed a descent that included three uncategorised climbs. The final to the finish in Villars-les-Dombes were flat.

The early breakaway was formed by three riders, Perrig Quéméneur (), Arnaud Courteille () and, for the second day running, Daniel Teklehaimanot. Teklehaimanot took the maximum points over the Col du Chat. The trio were under seven minutes ahead of the peloton at the foot of the Col de Cuvery. Teklehaimanot again took the points at the top, where the lead had dropped to over a minute.

A crash in the peloton with remaining left a group of riders chasing to the back of the main group, including pre-race favourite Joaquim Rodríguez. The breakaway was caught with remaining. In the final kilometre, the team controlled the front before leading out their sprinter, Edvald Boasson Hagen. His move was made too early and he was overtaken by three other riders, with Nacer Bouhanni () crossing the finish line first. Third-placed Sacha Modolo () took the lead of the points classification, with Bouhanni becoming the best young rider.

+ Stage 2 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 0" 3 + 0" 4 + 0" 5 + 0" 6 + 0" 7 + 0" 8 + 0" 9 + 0" 10 + 0"+ General classification after stage 2 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 2" 3 + 2" 4 + 6" 5 + 8" 6 + 12" 7 + 12" 8 + 12" 9 + 12" 10 + 12"

Stage 3

9 June 2015 — Roanne to Montagny, , team time trial (TTT)

The route for the team time trial of stage three from Roanne to Montagny was in length. At the mark, a small climb preceded a descent to the intermediate time check at . A gradual incline took the stage to its finish.

were the first team to set a time, with 31' 31". They were soon displaced by the third team to start , the team time trial world champions, who set a time of 29' 58". then came in with a four-second deficit to BMC and placed second. were next recording a time of 30' 16", which put them third. 's time of 30' 21" placed them fourth, with fifth taken by , a further five seconds in arrears.

, who placed sixth, lost their lead of the team classification to stage winners BMC. Although BMC's highest placed rider in the general classification was Manuel Quinziato, he was not one of the five riders required to finish; the highest of the five was Rohan Dennis, who became the new leader in both the general and young rider classifications. Second placed overall Tejay van Garderen, who was BMC's general classification leader and a pre-race favourite praised his team's effort and was confident about his chances in the race, saying "I feel good. This was the first big test of the Dauphiné, and going into the mountains I feel ready to put up a good challenge." Nacer Bouhanni moved into the lead of the points classification as Sacha Modolo failed to start.

+ Stage 3 result Rank Team Time 1 29' 58" 2 + 4" 3 + 5" 4 + 18" 5 + 23" 6 + 35" 7 + 43" 8 + 47" 9 + 50" 10 + 54"+ General classification after stage 3 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 0" 3 + 4" 4 + 4" 5 + 4" 6 + 4" 7 + 4" 8 + 5" 9 + 5" 10 + 5"

Stage 4

10 June 2015 — Anneyron to Sisteron,

The fourth stage was the longest of the race at . Starting in Anneyron, the route covered rolling terrain until the passing of the third-category Col de Lescou at . A short descent led to the foot of the fourth-category Col de Pre-Guittard, the stage's highest point. A similarly sized uncategorised climb followed. The long descent featured a number of small rises before the Côte de la Marquise with to go. A series of small climbs then took the stage to the flat finish at Sisteron.

A breakaway duo consisting of Martijn Keizer () and Tosh Van der Sande () escaped into the stage. Their lead was six minutes and thirty seconds after they had passed the Lescou and Pre-Guittard climbs. At the foot of the Côte de la Marquise, the pair had a one-minute advantage. Van der Sande was dropped on the climb and Keizer led over the summit with margin of twenty seconds. Attacks from the peloton on the descent saw the formation of a group consisting of Cyril Gautier (), Tim Wellens (), Lawson Craddock () and Wilco Kelderman. Wellens attacked and then passed Keizer.

Wellens was caught by the peloton in the final , before a failed move by a trio consisting of Daniel Oss, Tony Martin () and Bram Tankink (). Tony Gallopin () launched a late attack, but was caught during the bunch sprint that was won by Nacer Bouhanni, his second stage victory of the race. There were no changes to the classifications.

+ Stage 4 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 0" 3 + 0" 4 + 0" 5 + 0" 6 + 0" 7 + 0" 8 + 0" 9 + 0" 10 + 0"+ General classification after stage 4 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 0" 3 + 4" 4 + 4" 5 + 4" 6 + 4" 7 + 4" 8 + 5" 9 + 5" 10 + 5"

Stage 5

11 June 2015 — Digne-les-Bains to Pra-Loup,