The 2015 Tour de France was the 102nd edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour started in Utrecht, Netherlands on 4 July and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 26 July. On 13 July, between stages nine and ten there was a rest day in Pau.

Classification standings

Legend Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the leader of the team classification

Stage 1 4 July 2015 — Utrecht, individual time trial (ITT)

The Tour began on 4 July in the Netherlands, with an individual time trial that started and finished at Jaarbeurs, Utrecht. Because of its length, it did not qualify as a prologue. The course, which featured 20 turns and two roundabouts (traffic circles), was flat and mildly technical.

The first rider off the start ramp was Daniel Teklehaimanot of , who became the first black African to compete in a Tour de France. Jos van Emden of set the first good benchmark time, clocking in at 15' 11". He remained atop the leaderboard until Rohan Dennis of took over with a time of 14' 56". Dennis, who had clocked an average speed of , held on to win the stage and became the first yellow jersey wearer of the race. With his performance, he established a new record for average speed in a Tour de France individual time trial. Tony Martin of took second, finishing five seconds behind Dennis. Fabian Cancellara (), who came into the event with five previous Tour de France opening time trial victories, finished six seconds off Dennis' time and took third.

In the battle for the general classification, Thibaut Pinot of had one of the best times among the favorites for overall classification, 41 seconds behind Dennis, despite not having a reputation as a good time trialist. Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) and Vincenzo Nibali () also set good times, finishing one and two seconds behind Pinot, respectively.

Stage 1 result and general classification Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 5" 3 + 6" 4 + 8" 5 + 15" 6 + 23" 7 + 23" 8 + 29" 9 + 30" 10 + 32"

Stage 2

5 July 2015 — Utrecht to Zeeland,

This flat stage started in Utrecht. The riders rode underneath the Dom Tower and then went to De Meern. The race headed through Gouda before an intermediate sprint in Rotterdam. The peloton continued west through Spijkenisse and Hellevoetsluis, before crossing Haringvliet and Grevelingen. The finish was on Neeltje Jans, an artificial island at the entrance to the Scheldt estuary, in the province of Zeeland. Cycling commentators suggested before the race that strong winds off the sea could have a major impact, potentially splitting the peloton into echelons.

Before the start, at km 0, an honorary start in Utrecht, which involved the playing of the French and Dutch national anthems in the presence of Jan van Zanen, Mayor of Utrecht, Christian Prudhomme, the race director and cycling legends Bernard Hinault and Joop Zoetemelk.

After the ceremonies, the race begun, and a breakaway formed, which consisted of 's Bryan Nauleau, Jan Bárta of , Stef Clement representing and 's Armindo Fonseca. The quartet weren't allowed a significant time gap, however, with their maximum lead over the peloton remaining below three minutes throughout the stage. At the intermediate sprint in Rotterdam, won by Barta, their lead was a mere 30". Whilst he, Clement and Fonesca desperately tried to continue riding before the yellow jersey group, they were caught with to go.

It was then that the race headed towards the open sea, and large echelons were formed. The riders were split into three groups, however the last two of those eventually merged. When the situation became clear, 2nd and 3rd placed Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara, sprinters Mark Cavendish and André Greipel and GC favourites Alberto Contador, Chris Froome and Tejay van Garderen were all shown to be in the first group, whilst leader Rohan Dennis and other GC favourites Vincenzo Nibali, Nairo Quintana, Joaquim Rodríguez and Thibaut Pinot were all in the second group. Thanks to work from world champion Michał Kwiatkowski (who later received the combativity award for his work), , and , the gap continued to increase, eventually reaching over one minute. This was a clear blow to the chances of those caught in the second group.

During the sprint finish, Cavendish had his leadout man Mark Renshaw helping him. However, as Cavendish later said, Renshaw got out of the way too early making for a long sprint. This allowed Greipel, Sagan and Cancellara to catch up. Greipel later won a very close sprint finish, with Sagan second and Cancellara third. Cavendish gave up towards the end and came fourth. Had he continued, and come in third, his teammate Tony Martin would have taken the yellow jersey. Instead, the time bonus for his position was sufficient to grant the yellow jersey to Cancellara. Eventually, the second group arrived 1'28" behind the winners.

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 + 3" 3 + 6" 4 + 33" 5 + 35" 6 + 42" 7 + 42" 8 + 44" 9 + 48" 10 + 48"

Stage 3

6 July 2015 — Antwerp to Huy,

The tour moved to Belgium for the third stage, starting in Antwerp and ending in Huy. The stage proper began at the end of the neutral zone in Boechout, south-west of Antwerp, and continued through Lierre, Aarschot, Tienen and Hannut. Andenne was followed quickly by the first climb of the tour, which was the category 4 Côte de Bohissau. Following a sprint at Havelange, the tour went over the category 4 Côte de Ereffe and the Côte de Cherave on the outskirts of Huy. The stage finished on the category 3 Mur de Huy, a climb with a maximum gradient of 19% in the final few hundred metres.

Like in the previous stage, the day's breakaway was formed immediately after the start. Bryan Nauleau and Jan Bárta were in it again, like the day before, joined by Martin Elmiger representing and 's Serge Pauwels, again making a quartet. This time, they were allowed a slightly bigger lead, as it reached four minutes before the peloton began the chase. Barta won the most combative rider of the day award.

As they were being caught, and when the peloton was getting ready to tackle the first climb of the Tour at full speed, (the Côte de Bohisseau) a huge crash occurred in the field. Among those who went down were leader Fabian Cancellara, third placed Tom Dumoulin who was also the leader of the young rider's classification, William Bonnet and Simon Gerrans. The peloton was initially neutralized to allow those riders to catch up so that the riders could come back to the peloton, before being completely stopped at the foot of the ascent. The cause for this was the lack of ambulances and the doctor, who were all busy treating the injured riders. Bonnet, Gerrans and Dumoulin abandoned, soon followed by Dmitry Kozontchuk. Once the race restarted, the Bohissau climb was neutralised.

Green jersey holder André Greipel took full points at the intermediate sprint in Havelange, before the climbs of the fourth category Côte d'Ereffe and Côte de Cherave. None of these caused major losses from the GC contenders, although the Cherave did slightly split the bunch. Cancellara was already far back, experiencing the effects from his crash, ensuring a loss of the yellow jersey. On the Mur de Huy, the favourites came to the fore, and it was Joaquim Rodríguez who attacked with to go, ensuring a stage victory for himself. Chris Froome came second, and later took the yellow jersey as Cancellara came in almost twelve minutes after the winner. He gained time over his GC rivals. Later, Froome said, "I didn’t wake up today thinking I was going to be in yellow", and, "That was a real surprise there."

Later in the evening, it was revealed that Cancellara had suffered two transverse process fractures in two vertebrae in his lower back. He abandoned the race.

Stage 3 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 0" 3 + 4" 4 + 5" 5 + 8" 6 + 11" 7 + 11" 8 + 11" 9 + 11" 10 + 11"General classification after stage 3 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 1" 3 + 13" 4 + 26" 5 + 28" 6 + 31" 7 + 34" 8 + 36" 9 + 1' 03" 10 + 1' 04"

Stage 4

7 July 2015 — Seraing to Cambrai,

The fourth stage was the Tour's first entry into France as the peloton covered seven sectors of pavé on the way to Cambrai.

This flat stage departed from Seraing heading west through Huy, to Namur, where the riders faced the category 4 Côte de la Citadelle de Namur. The riders passed around the northern outskirts of Charleroi, through Sombreffe and over the first section of cobbles between Pont-à-Celles and Gouy-lez-Piéton. The race then continued towards the south-east to Binche, before an intermediate sprint at Havay. Three-quarters of the way through the stage, after passing through Le Quesnoy, where the race turned north-west, the six remaining sections of pavé followed. Sector 6 arrived before reaching Famars, where the riders turned south-west. Sectors 5 and 4 followed before the turn south-east at Saulzoir. The riders then did have a tarmac surface to Saint-Python. Sectors 3, 2 and 1 then all occurred on the way west to Carnières. The riders then returned to the tarmac surface to the finish line at Cambrai.

+Pavé sectorsNo.NameKilometre markLength (m)7Pont-à-Celles à Gouy-lez-Piéton10118006Artres à Famars175.512005Quérénaing à Verchain-Maugré18116004Verchain-Maugré à Saulzoir185.512003Saint-Python19615002Viesly à Quiévy198.537001Avesnes-les-Aubert à Carnières2092300

At the start, a special ceremony was held involving the king of Belgium, Philippe. Once the race got underway, another four-rider breakaway was formed. It consisted of 's Lieuwe Westra, Thomas de Gendt of , Perrig Quémeneur representing and 's Frédéric Brun. Due to the length of the stage, the riders were allowed a bigger time gap—nine minutes before started the pursuit. At the intermediate sprint in Havay, which De Gendt won, the time gap was down to two minutes. Whilst they made it through the first cobbled section together, the peloton continued to speed up, and they were caught before the third sector.

In sector 4 (the first of four sectors, counting down to one) the group split into two. Fifty riders were left in the main group, which included most of the general classification favorites. The only main rider missing was Thibaut Pinot, who not only lost in the split, he also had to stop twice for equipment changes and ended up losing 3' 23" to the stage winner. Vincenzo Nibali attacked three times on the cobbled sectors, but to no avail other than getting him the most combative rider award.

None of the other cobbled sectors were sufficient to split the leaders, who prepared for a sprint finish, with riders such as Peter Sagan and John Degenkolb (winner of the cobbled classic Paris–Roubaix earlier in the year) being seen as the most likely to win. With to go, however, Tony Martin attacked. Whilst his lead reached a maximum of a few seconds, the team of race leader Chris Froome, , were happy to give him the yellow jersey. Thus, with only chasing, Martin managed to stay ahead of the bunch with a 3" advantage, taking the stage and the yellow jersey. It was seen as finally turning his luck, as he had been in second place since the start of the Tour, with time gaps of 5", 3" and 1" after each stage and to a different leader. He later said to the organisers, "It's a super nice story and it makes me super happy", and, "I'm pretty sure to stay in yellow until the Pyrenees".

Stage 4 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 3" 3 + 3" 4 + 3" 5 + 3" 6 + 3" 7 + 3" 8 + 3" 9 + 3" 10 + 3"General classification after stage 4 Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 12" 3 + 25" 4 + 38" 5 + 39" 6 + 40" 7 + 46" 8 + 48" 9 + 1' 15" 10 + 1' 16"

Stage 5

8 July 2015 — Arras to Amiens,