page_title: 2015 Tour of Flanders
section_title: Race report
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Tour of Flanders / Race report
caption_attribution_description: D71_6615_DxO
context_page_description: The 2015 Tour of Flanders was the 99th edition of the Tour of Flanders one-day cycling race. It took place on 5 April and was the eighth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race is one of the cobbled classics and is the second of the cycling monuments on the 2015 calendar. The 2014 champion was Fabian Cancellara; he was not able to defend his title after breaking two vertebrae in a crash at E3 Harelbeke.
  The race was initially dominated by a breakaway group of up to seven riders before the favourites in the chasing group started to attack on the climb of the Taaienberg, 36 km from the finish. Eventually, Alexander Kristoff and Niki Terpstra broke free and contested the victory in a two-man sprint, won by Kristoff, who became the first Norwegian to win the race. Greg Van Avermaet finished third.
context_section_description: The race started with a small delay caused by a farmers' strike. When racing got under way, five riders broke free of the pack after 20 km (12 mi): Jesse Sergent (Trek Factory Racing), Damien Gaudin (AG2R La Mondiale), Ralf Matzka (Bora–Argon 18), Matt Brammeier (MTN–Qhubeka), and Dylan Groenewegen (Team Roompot), while Clément Venturini (Cofidis) was briefly in the front group as well before dropping back. At Sint-Eloois-Winkel, there was a bonus sprint, in which Brammeier won his body weight of 73 kg (161 lb) in local beer. Lars Bak (Lotto–Soudal) and Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli) were able to bridge the gap to the leaders, creating a group of seven at the front. After 60 km (37 mi) of racing, the leaders were about seven minutes clear of the peloton, but the gap started to come down once the riders reached the first climbs.
  There were several attacks from the main group when it navigated the area around Oudenaarde, with André Greipel (Lotto–Soudal) featuring in all of them, to no avail. Just before the cobble section of the Haaghoek, a neutral car by supplier Shimano tried to overtake the leading group and hit Sergent, who fell and had to retire with a broken collarbone, which later required surgery. With the lead group now down to six riders, they led the main field by three minutes, with Team Sky leading the chase, after their rider Bradley Wiggins had recovered from an earlier crash. Another incident involving a car by Shimano occurred a little later when it crashed into the back of a FDJ team car, which in turn brought down rider Sébastien Chavanel, forcing him to abandon as well.
  On the Kaperij, the tenth climb, Bak and Gaudin were able to break free from their group. On the second ascent of the Oude Kwaremont, Greipel again unsuccessfully attacked, before the main field reached the breakaway at the top of the climb. On the Koppenberg, Greipel again attacked and an increase in tempo caused Bradley Wiggins and other riders to lose contact. At the front, Geraint Thomas and Stijn Devolder (Trek Factory Racing) led the chase to bring back Greipel. Once they reached him, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) was on the attack after the climb, leading at a maximum of half a minute.
  At the climb of the Taaienberg, 36 km (22 mi) from the finish, the favourites came into play. Niki Terpstra was the first to move, with Greg van Avermaet following after crossing the top, soon followed by a larger group. On the third and final lap of the course, Lutsenko attacked the 26-rider strong group again, joined by van Avermaet and Nelson Oliveira (Lampre–Merida). They were caught before the Kruisberg, soon followed by an attack by Terpstra and Kristoff. The two created a thirty-second lead and held it to the finish, even with a counter-attack from van Avermaet and Peter Sagan late on. Terpstra did not contribute to the pace making over the last kilometre, trying to use Kristoff's slipstream to win a sprint. This proved unsuccessful however, as Kristoff took the second monuments victory of his career, outsprinting Terpstra to the line. He became the first Norwegian to win the race.
caption: The peloton during the race
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