The 2015 Eneco Tour was a road cycling stage race that took place in the Netherlands and Belgium between 10 and 16 August 2015. It was the 11th edition of the Eneco Tour stage race and was the twenty-first race of the 2015 UCI World Tour.
The Eneco Tour is an unusual race in the cycling season: it primarily favours classics riders rather than climbers. The first three stages of the race were suitable for sprinters; the fourth stage was an individual time trial; and the final three stages were suitable for the classics riders. Elia Viviani () won the first stage and was the first rider to wear the leader's jersey. Jesper Asselman () took over the lead after the second stage due to time bonuses, before losing it in the time trial to Jos van Emden (). Wilco Kelderman (also ) took the lead after the fifth stage, but lost it to Tim Wellens () the following day. Wellens defended his lead on the final stage to win his second successive Eneco Tour; he had been the defending champion after victory in 2014. Greg Van Avermaet () was second, with Kelderman third.
The points classification was won by André Greipel () and the combativity award by Gijs Van Hoecke (). also won the team classification.
Teams
The 17 UCI World Tour teams were automatically entitled and obliged to start the race; three UCI Professional Continental teams were invited as wildcards to form a twenty-team peloton. Each team entered eight riders to form a 160-rider peloton; one rider, 's Daniel Oss, withdrew before the race due to a fall in training, so 159 riders started the race.
Schedule
The first three stages of the race were flat road stages, with no classified climbs. All of these stages were expected to suit the sprinters, though crosswinds had the potential to make the stages more difficult. The decisive section of the race was expect to start with the individual time trial on stage 4. The final three stages of the race were expected to suit classics riders: the fifth and sixth stages were hilly stages in the style of the Ardennes classics, while the final stage used roads that feature in the cobbled classics. One change to the regulations in 2015 was the introduction of a "golden kilometre", a series of three intermediate sprints on each road stage approximately before the finish. The first three riders across each of these sprint points won bonus seconds in the general classification. This replicated the system from the 2015 Tour of Belgium, where the golden kilometre system had played a part in the victory of Greg Van Avermaet ().
Stage Date Route DistanceType Winner 1 10 AugustBolsward to Bolsward Flat stage 2 11 AugustBreda to Breda Flat stage 3 12 AugustBeveren to Ardooie Flat stage 4 13 AugustHoogerheide to Hoogerheide Individual time trial 5 14 AugustRiemst to Sittard-Geleen Hilly stage 6 15 AugustHeerlen to Houffalize Hilly stage 7 16 AugustSint-Pieters-Leeuw to Geraardsbergen Hilly stage with cobblestones
Pre-race favourites
Most World Tour stage races are won by strong climbers. The Eneco Tour is unusual because the favourites for overall victory were classics riders—those who perform strongly in the Ardennes classics and the cobbled classics that feature in the early part of the cycling season.
The defending champion was Tim Wellens (), who won the 2014 Eneco Tour in the penultimate stage. He was one of the favourites again, although Cycling Weekly predicted that he would be given less freedom to attack as the defending champion. One other former winner of the race took part in 2015: Lars Boom () had won in 2012. He was another strong favourite in 2015, especially as the race included a longer time trial than other recent editions of the race. Other favourites included Niki Terpstra (), who was third in 2012, Greg Van Avermaet (), who was in strong form after coming close to victory in the Clásica de San Sebastián, Philippe Gilbert (also BMC) and Wilco Kelderman ().
The first three stages of the race were flat and therefore particularly suitable for sprinters. Prominent sprinters taking part in the race included André Greipel (), Giacomo Nizzolo (), Elia Viviani (), Andrea Guardini () and Edward Theuns ().
Stages
Stage 1
10 August 2015 – Bolsward to Bolsward,
The first stage was a flat stage in the Netherlands, starting and finishing in Bolsward. The race began with a large loop south of the town, through Sneek and then north along the coast from Oudemirdum, then returning to Bolsward. After the first time across the finish line, the race turned north for a shorter loop, through Franeker and then south along the coast from Harlingen, before returning to Bolsward for the second time across the finish line. There were then two laps of a finishing circuit. The stage contained no climbs.
The day's early breakaway was formed by Nathan Haas (), Frederik Veuchelen (), Laurens De Vreese (), Jesper Asselman (), Nico Denz (), and David Boucher (). The racing conditions were fairly easy, as there were no crosswinds. The breakaway's lead was over seven minutes at one point, but this was quickly closed down by the peloton and reduced to three minutes with remaining. There were three intermediate sprints in the space of , described as a "golden kilometre", which were won by Denz, Asselman and de Vreese respectively. The breakaway was then caught and and drove the peloton towards the finish line. Sky's Andy Fenn was leading out his teammate Elia Viviani and, with remaining, Viviani was able to follow the wheel of André Greipel (). Greipel opened his sprint with a long distance to the finish line and Viviani was able to follow him and then come past him to take the stage victory. Danny van Poppel () finished second and Jean-Pierre Drucker () third, with Greipel in fourth place.
Stage 2
11 August 2015 – Breda to Breda,
The second stage of the race started in the south of the Netherlands, starting and finishing in Breda. The course was in length and, like the first stage, was entirely flat. The stage began with a loop to the south of Breda, around Ulvenhout, then crossed the finish line to begin a much larger loop. This second loop took the riders north to Wagenberg, then south-west to Bosschenhoofd and south-east to Meer, where the Tour entered Belgium for the first time. Here the route turned north again, passing to the east of Ulvenhout and returning to cross the finish line for the second time. The final part of the stage was two laps of a finishing circuit to the east of Breda; these laps included the golden kilometre.
The early breakaway was formed by two riders, Gijs Van Hoecke () and, for the second day running, Jesper Asselman. The two riders briefly had a lead of seven minutes, but this was controlled by , especially Ian Stannard. Asselman allowed Van Hoecke to win the two early sprints for the combativity jersey and, in return, was allowed to win all three sprints in the golden kilometre. The two riders had a two-minute advantage at this point. In the main peloton, Philippe Gilbert and Andriy Hryvko () competed for the remaining one-second bonuses: Gilbert won the first and third; Hryvko won the second. Asselman and Van Hoecke were then caught by the peloton—led by —with remaining. Despite several crashes in the final kilometres of the stage, the peloton came to the finish together. attempted to lead out Tom Boonen as they entered the final , but Lotto-Soudal were able to bring Greipel to the front to open his sprint with to the finish line. He finished comfortably ahead of Guarnieri, with Boonen in third.
Asselman finished in 78th place on the stage, in the same time as Greipel. As a result of the bonus seconds won in the golden kilometre, he moved into the overall lead of the race. Greipel was in second place, five seconds behind and on the same time as Elia Viviani. This was the first time that any rider from had worn a leader's jersey in a UCI race.
Stage 3
12 August 2015 – Beveren to Ardooie,
The third stage of the race took place entirely in Belgium. It was a course that contained no classified climbs; it was the final flat stage of the race. The route began in Beveren with a circuit around the municipality. The course then took the riders west as far as Bassevelde, before turning south-west towards Ardooie. After the riders crossed the finish line for the first time, they began two laps of a finishing circuit around the town; these included the golden kilometre.
The breakaway was formed by three riders early in the race. These were David Boucher (), Edward Theuns () and Frederik Veuchelen (). They built a lead that reached four minutes, but were always under control by the peloton. did a lot of the work at the front of the peloton controlling the breakaway. With remaining, Gorka Izagirre () and Hugo Houle () touched wheels and crashed after a sharp corner. Houle continued, but Izagirre was forced to abandon the race and was taken to hospital in an ambulance following a blow to his head on a traffic signal. Theuns won all three of the golden kilometre sprints; the nine bonus seconds moved him up to fifth place overall at the end of the stage. The breakaway was caught with remaining and, apart from a brief attack from Nathan Haas (), the peloton came to the finish together.
The peloton was led first by and then by and . The peloton split slightly due to 's work. Arnaud Démare () was the first to start sprinting. Tom Boonen, however, was able to follow him, despite clashing wheels at one point, and came past in the final metres to take the stage victory. Démare was second with Viviani third. Boonen moved up into second place overall following the stage, one second behind Asselman and on the same time as Viviani.
After the stage, Boucher was thrown out of the race by his team. He had recently been told that his contract would not be renewed and had disobeyed team orders not to go in the day's breakaway.
Stage 4
13 August 2015 – Hoogerheide to Hoogerheide, (ITT)
Stage 4 was a individual time trial around Hoogerheide in the Netherlands. The course was fairly flat, with a slight downhill section towards the start and a gentle uphill section towards the finish, the Rijzendeweg.
An early leading time was set by Adriano Malori (), with a time of 16' 40" and an average speed of . Soon afterwards, however, that time was beaten by Jos van Emden (). Van Emden was seven seconds quicker than Malori and was the first rider to complete the course at an average speed of over . The only other rider to come close to Van Emden's time was his teammate Wilco Kelderman, who finished the course five seconds behind to take second place. Van Emden won the stage, the first WorldTour victory of the year for . Van Emden also moved into the overall lead of the race.
Several other contenders for overall victory finished the course in good times. These included BMC's Greg Van Avermaet and Philippe Gilbert and Astana's Lars Boom. 's riders were less successful, however. Their best-placed rider was Julian Alaphillippe, 41 seconds behind Van Emden. Niki Terpstra, who had been considered a favourite for the overall victory, suffered mechanical problems, changed bikes twice and finished 1' 26" back.
Stage 5
14 August 2015 – Riemst to Sittard-Geleen,