The 2015 cycling season in review: February
February was a busy month in the 2015 season, with Chris Froome's first race of the year, the inaugural Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race, a new world Hour Record, five-day races in the Middle East and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Following an exciting January, the second month of 2015 was jam-packed with stage races and brought first wins of the year for Chris Froome, Ian Stannard and Niki Terpstra.
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race
The 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans retired from professional cycling at his own race, following a stellar career which will see him go down in history as Australia's greatest-ever cyclist.
Evans personally designed the 174km route, which finished with three 20.2km laps around Geelong, which also hosted the finish of the 2010 UCI World Championships road race.
The race was won by Gianni Meersman in a bunch sprint, ahead of Australians Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) and Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin). Evans himself finished in fifth, with Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling) being the fifth Aussie to round out the top ten.
Dubai Tour, Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman
February saw three stage races held in the Middle East, with the Dubai Tour followed by six-stages races in Oman and Qatar later in the month.
Mark Cavendish won the first and last stages of the second-ever Dubai Tour on his way to the overall classification and points jersey, having taken the final stage at Tour de San Luis at the end of January.
Niki Terpstra took overall victory in Qatar off the back of a commanding performance in stage three's time trial, finishing eight seconds ahead of Fabien Cancellara and nine ahead of Bradley Wiggins around the 10.9km course. Katusha's Alexander Kristoff won stage two, four and five to secure the points jersey.
Lampre-Merida's Rafael Valls won the toughest stage of the Tour of Oman and kept the leader's jersey until the end of the racing, beating stiff competition from Tejay van Garderen, Alejandro Valverde and Rafal Majka.
The race had its fair share of controversy, with stage five being shortened and neutralised after a sandstorm with winds of up to 70kmh blew over crowd control barriers and temperatures of 40°C caused several punctures.
More than half of the teams were also fined as much as 450 CHF for throwing away water bottles in the blistering heat following stage three.
Ruta del Sol
Photo: Graham Watson
Chris Froome made his first appearance of the 2015 season on the road and he laid down a marker for July's Tour de France with victory over Alberto Contador at the Ruta del Sol in Andalucia, winning the overall classification by two seconds and the sprinter's jersey by a single point from his Spanish rival, finishing ahead of him on GC for the first time since the 2013 Tour de France.
Froome won on stage four's mountaintop finish to secure the overall lead, gaining the 28 seconds he needed to take the jersey. Team Sky had four other riders in the top ten, with Mikel Nieve finishing fourth, Peter Kennaugh seventh and Kanstanstin Siutsou tenth.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Ian Stannard recorded his first win of 2015 with an impressive performance in the Belgian one-day race, outsprinting Niki Terpstra in the final kilometres, who continued his good February with second-place.
Stannard, who also won the 2014 edition of the race, managed to take the win despite going into the last few kilometres surrounded by three Etixx-Quick Step riders. After Tom Boonen put in the first attack with 4.5km, Stannard's own attack dropped Boonen and Stijn Vandenbergh, leaving him and Terpstra to fight it out.
When Terpstra started his sprint early, Stannard was able to ride in his slipstream and snuck out from behind him in the closing metres to defend his title.
Rohan Dennis Hour Record
BMC's Rohan Dennis beat Matthias Brändle’s 14-week-old world Hour Record in the second week of February, adding 639m to the previous mark to set a new record of 52.491km.
Dennis made the third successful Hour Record attempt since the UCI changed the record's rules in 2014. Following overall victory in the Tour Down Under in January, Dennis seemed to crack in the final quarter-hour of his attempt, having seemed on course to break the 53km mark at around halfway.
But Dennis was no less pleased for it and seemed positively unruffled at the finish.
“It almost feels too easy,” Dennis said. “Obviously it wasn’t. I hope it [the record] will stay for a while.”
Elsewhere, Britain's Sarah Storey missed out on the women's record by 563m at Lee Valley Velo Park, but set new British and Paralympics records in the process.
Thank you for reading 10 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Stuart Clarke is a News Associates trained journalist who has worked for the likes of the British Olympic Associate, British Rowing and the England and Wales Cricket Board, and of course Cycling Weekly. His work at Cycling Weekly has focused upon professional racing, following the World Tour races and its characters.
-
-
British champion Cameron Mason hoping for rain at Cyclo-cross World Championships
British national champion says patience will be the key in what’s expected to be a fast race in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
Volta Valenciana 2023: Simone Velasco wins from the breakaway on stage three
Italian capitalises on hesitation amongst the chasers to win the sprint from a reduced breakaway
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
CW Live: Olympic champion joins Women's WorldTour; Tom Pidcock tips Van Aert for Cyclo-cross Worlds; Arkéa-Samsic boss 'very interested' in Julian Alaphilippe; Deadline for 2024 Olympics tickets; LEJOG record holder back cycling after hit-and-run
A round-up of all the latest cycling news
By Tom Davidson • Published
-
In photos: Mark Cavendish through the years, all his teams and kits
18 years, six teams, 161 wins. Will 2023 be a last hurrah for the British champion?
By Adam Becket • Published
-
CW Live: Mark Cavendish to start season at Oman; Giro wildcards unveiled; UCI updates Covid rules; Amsterdam builds underwater garage for 7,000 bikes; Cavendish family 'terrorised' by robbery; and LTNs do not push traffic onto boundary roads
All the news you need in the world of cycling this Thursday. It's cold!
By Adam Becket • Last updated
-
Last chance saloon: Why has Mark Cavendish ended up at Astana? And will it work?
The British champion has joined the sixth different team of his professional career in the hunt for one more Tour de France stage win
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Mark Cavendish signs for Astana-Qazaqstan and will remain on the WorldTour for 2023
The transfer saga is over, Mark Cavendish has officially found a team, and will chase the Tour de France stage win record
By Tom Davidson • Published
-
CW Live: Chris Froome targets return to 'top level'; UCI tightens ITT rules; Strava responds to price hike criticism; Topless protesters arrested at TDU; Tributes paid to Lieuwe Westra; Scott recalls 'cracking' bikes; Toon Aerts the PE teacher
The latest news in the world of cycling
By Tom Davidson • Last updated
-
CW LIVE: Wout van Aert and Shirin van Anrooij win cyclo-cross in Koksijde; Rapha unveil EF Education kits; Police search for two suspects in Mark Cavendish robbery; Paris-Nice route announced; Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas to ride Tour Down Under
All the latest in the world of cycling
By Tom Davidson • Last updated
-
CW LIVE: Mark Cavendish threatened with knife in home robbery; Israel-Premier Tech and Uno-X receive wildcard invites to the Tour de France; Sonny Colbrelli looking to enter politics and concerns raised over Van Aert and Van der Poel appearance fees
All the latest news from the world of cycling
By Tom Thewlis • Last updated