2015 Tianjin explosions, Explosions, Pollution
At least 700 tonnes of highly toxic sodium cyanide was stored at the site – 70 times the legal limit. Sodium cyanide leakage was reported in the sewer. On 13 August, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, all of which are toxic, were detected within 500 m (1,600 ft) of the origin of the explosion, but the levels conformed with the national standards. Gases were undetectable 2 km (1.2 mi) from the site during initial testing on 14 August.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Explosions, Pollution
When the first rains after the initial explosions arrived on 18 August, white chemical foam covered the streets. Citizens complained of burning sensations and rashes on sensitive skin regions after coming into contact with rain droplets. However, meteorologists and health experts sought to reassure the public that the rain was not directly harmful to health, whilst the Environment Protection Board advised against exposure to the rain due to traces of cyanide dust reacting with water.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Explosions, Pollution
Thousands of dead sticklebacks washed up on the banks 6 km from the explosion site on 20 August, fuelling fears of water contamination. Officials downplayed the fears, saying that there were not high levels of cyanide in the river and that the fish likely died due to oxygen depletion in the water.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Explosions, Pollution
More precipitation throughout August in the Binhai New Area brought more complaints of skin irritations and burns from volunteers and journalists. A bright white foam also manifested yet again on the streets in a similar manner to before. Deng Xiaowen, director of Tianjin's environmental monitoring centre, questionably stated that the foam was apparently; “a normal phenomenon when rain falls, and similar things have occurred before”.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Immediate aftermath
On Thursday morning, the Chinese leaders ordered officers in the city to make full effort in rescuing the injured, and search for those missing. Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and Li Keqiang, the Premier of the People's Republic of China, also said police should investigate the cause of the incident and punish those responsible for the blast.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Immediate aftermath
Tianjin officials, concerned at the potential public response, announced initially that 14 people had perished in the explosions, but later raised the death toll to 44 once the scale of the explosions became clear. The South China Morning Post (SCMP) cited a Tianjin police source that officers had been instructed to remove bodies from the scene to deliberately understate the official death toll, which angered the Tianjin government.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Immediate aftermath
The morning following the explosion military personnel began to arrive in Tianjin to help with the search and recovery efforts. Extra equipment, such as bulldozers, were brought in to help with the clean-up operation. Over 200 nuclear and biochemical experts, including a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, began arriving in Tianjin to assess the health risks from the chemicals being released into the atmosphere. Government personnel set up twelve temporary monitoring stations near the blast site with above-normal levels of pollutants being detected. A nearby drainage outlet was also closed, and water quality tested.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Immediate aftermath
Firefighting was suspended on the afternoon of 13 August due to the uncertainty of the content and quantity of hazardous materials being stored on site. A team of over 200 chemical specialists was deployed to the site to assess the hazardous materials on site and dangers to the environment, and to determine the best way to put out the remaining fires and proceed with search and rescue and clean-up operations.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Immediate aftermath
Later that day, rescue personnel were dispatched in an attempt to remove the 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide believed to be stored at the site, with hydrogen peroxide being prepared to neutralise the chemicals. Daily press conferences were organised. A press conference organised by local officials held on 14 August came to an abrupt end when a journalist began asking questions as to why such dangerous chemicals were stockpiled so close to housing estates.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Immediate aftermath
Initially, more than 3,500 area residents were staying in temporary shelters, but the number surpassed six thousand within three days. The government issued an evacuation order over concerns of further explosions; not all residents complied.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Immediate aftermath
On 15 August, local authorities ordered the evacuation of residents within a 3 km (1.9 mi) radius of the blast site, prompted by the threat of "toxic substances", including sodium cyanide.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Immediate aftermath
The State Council ordered inspections of all businesses using dangerous chemicals and explosives across the country.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Company ownership
Hong Kong media announced that Li Liang, the major shareholder of Ruihai Logistics – owning 55%, was the nephew of former chairman of the CPPCC National Committee  and ex-party chief of Tianjin, Li Ruihuan, and that the company may have been named after his brother and Li Liang's father; the remaining 45% was owned by Shu Zheng.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Company ownership
Reports in state media one week after the explosion were contradictory, holding that Ruihai was owned via proxies by Yu Xuewei, the chairman of Ruihai and a former senior executive  at Sinochem, and Dong Shexuan, who served as the company's vice-president and had been arrested by police by the time of the reports. Dong Shexuan is the son of Tianjin port's former police chief Dong Peijun, who was a colleague of Wu Changshun, the former chief of the public security bureau of Tianjin. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), CPC's anti-corruption body, charged Wu Changshun with bribery in 2014; Dong Peijun was also under investigation for corruption, but died that year.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Investigation
After the explosions, the CCDI placed Yang Dongliang, Director of the State Administration of Work Safety and China's highest work-safety official, under investigation on 18 August 2015. Yang had previously served as Tianjin's vice mayor for 11 years. In 2012, Yang Dongliang had issued an order to loosen rules for the handling of hazardous substances, which may have enabled Ruihai to store toxic chemicals such as sodium cyanide.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Investigation
On 27 August, Xinhua reported that police had arrested twelve people with suspected connections to the explosions, including Ruihai Logistics' chairman, vice-chairman, and at least three other managers, with the other seven people unnamed.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Investigation
On 5 February 2016, the Chinese government issued the investigation report of the explosions. The report concluded the fire started in a container through auto-ignition of nitrocellulose, due to vaporization of the wetting agent during hot weather.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Investigation
On 8 November 2016, various courts in China handed jail sentences to 49 government officials and warehouse executives and staff for their roles in circumventing the safety rules that led to the disaster. Yu Xuewei, the Chairman of Ruihai Logistics, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Reactions
Immediately following the blasts the company website was taken down fuelling suspicions that an attempt was being made to shield owners with powerful political connections. For several successive days, local residents seeking compensation for their homes protested in front of the venue of the daily press conference, they were joined by distraught families of missing firefighters, and confronted police angrily.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Reactions
The Chinese public security minister threatened severe punishment for those found to be responsible for the explosions. However, the authorities did not release any significant information for several days about the chemicals and circumstances, causing public anger to mount during this time. Marking an official change of tack that suggested top-level endorsement, the official People's Daily joined in to criticise local officials' lack of candour and their use of bureaucratic jargon.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Reactions
In addition, the Global Times remarked on the inadequacy of emergency response and the reluctance of high-ranking officials to answer the public's questions and address their concerns until four days after the blasts. The People's Daily acknowledged that public scepticism of the reported death toll was fuelling rampant rumours; there was also disquiet over the emergency assistance provided and the way the aftermath was being handled. Attempting to defuse widespread anger at the lack of official transparency, mouthpieces of the ruling party declared that investigations would be thorough and transparent. Former deputy mayor, Yang Dongliang, was put under investigation for corruption; mayor Huang Xingguo proclaimed his "unshirkable responsibility for this accident". Authorities also released information about the ownership of Ruihai, as well as a confession by one beneficial owner for the proxy shareholdings.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Reactions
Meanwhile, Greenpeace Asia alleged that two Sinochem subsidiaries – Sinochem Tianjin Binhai Logistics Company (with a 130,000-square-metre (1,400,000 sq ft) site) and Tianjin Port Sinochem Hazardous Goods Logistics Company Ltd. – had warehouses in the vicinity in close proximity to a primary and a nursery school, meaning that both were also in similar breach of laws.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Reactions
Observers stated that top officials always attempt to show such disasters as isolated instances, have never accepted political accountability nor addressed the underlying governance issues, and have always heavily censored any criticism of the central government. Willy Lam, professor at CUHK and senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, noted the highly unusual 4 days it took for Li Keqiang to make an official visit, suggesting that the lack of a top-ranking visitor to a major disaster site within 48 hours despite the proximity to Beijing reflected "division among the leadership on who should be the fall guy."


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Media coverage, News outlets
Initially, Tianjin authorities banned editors and reporters from sharing information about the disaster on Weibo and WeChat, and websites were ordered to follow state media.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Media coverage, News outlets
The Tianjin internet police warned social media users to use only official casualty figures.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Media coverage, News outlets
Tianjin Television had reported the explosion on their early morning news at 7:00 am, but citizens complained that the station had not reported live nor updated on the event, instead showing soap operas eight hours later.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Media coverage, Social media
A great deal of specific information on the event, including the majority of early stage video, was first released over social media sites, and in particular microblogging platforms like Weibo. Major media has drawn heavily from social media sources, greatly widening the audience. The Economist noted, "Social media fills in the blanks left by official narratives of the Tianjin disaster. The most remarkable feature of the aftermath of the explosions in Tianjin, in northern China, has been the extraordinary contrast between the official reaction to the crisis, which has been profoundly flawed, and the online reaction, which has entirely dominated the agenda."


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Media coverage, Censorship and criticism
Professional and social media reports were censored by Chinese authorities. The censorship rate increased tenfold on the social media site Weibo, with users reporting the deletion of their posts regarding the blasts, with "Tianjin" and "explosion" being the most censored words. An article by Caijing, which carried an interview with a firefighter who said that no-one on the front line had been informed of the dangerous chemicals on site that would react exothermically when mixed with water, was deleted after it had been reposted 10,000 times; many other posts mentioning the existence of deadly sodium cyanide were also expunged.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Media coverage, Censorship and criticism
The Cyberspace Administration of China banned all journalists from posting to social media, and insisted on strict adherence to Xinhua copy. On 15 August, it announced that it had shut down 18 websites and suspended 32 more for spreading false information. More than 360 Weibo and public WeChat accounts which had allegedly been spreading such false rumors have been "punished according to laws". Of these accounts, over 160 were shut down permanently.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Media coverage, Censorship and criticism
Press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accused the Chinese state media of playing up the heroic efforts of rescue workers and firefighters while downplaying the causes of the explosions and the number of casualties. RSF said that censorship by the Chinese authorities showed "a flagrant indifference to the public's legitimate concerns".


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Media coverage, Censorship and criticism
A CNN correspondent was interrupted by bystanders and forced to leave during a live report outside TEDA Hospital. A journalist from the Beijing News reported that he and two other reporters were chased by police, caught, searched, and made to delete photographs from their cameras and computers.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Clean-up and redress
Tianjin officials announced that as at the deadline on 3 September 2015, more than 9,000 households out of some 17,000 affected by the explosions had signed agreements to settle their damages claims. It was reported that some had chosen to sell their damaged apartments to private developers, who offered them around 130% of the original purchase price, while others accepted an offer from the local government promising to fix the damaged apartments. The local government offered an additional of ¥20,000 renminbi ($3,100) to those who agreed to settle their claims by the deadline. The New York Times journalists, however, reported that some owners had faced heavy pressure from government officials to settle; similarly, owners who were employees in state-owned enterprises were under threat of dismissal from their bosses for not settling.


2015 Tianjin explosions, Response, Clean-up and redress
On 10 September 2015 China Daily reported that families of the firefighters killed in the explosions would each receive compensation of 2.3 million yuan (US$360,669), citing a report in Beijing News. It was also reported that a monument would be built on the site and that the government planned to compensate residents whose houses were damaged by repurchasing them at 130% of their purchase price.


2015 Tiburon Challenger
The 2015 Tiburon Challenger was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the ninth edition of the tournament which was part of the 2015 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Tiburon, United States between 26 September and 4 October 2015.


2015 Tiburon Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2015 Tiburon Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received entry into the singles main draw courtesy of a protected ranking:


2015 Tiburon Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received entry into the singles main draw as a special exempt:


2015 Tiburon Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received entry into the singles main draw as an alternate:


2015 Tiburon Challenger – Doubles
Bradley Klahn and Adil Shamasdin were the defending champions, but chose not to compete this year.


2015 Tiburon Challenger – Singles
Sam Querrey was the defending champion, but chose not to compete this year.


2015 Tikapur massacre
On 24 August 2015, armed protestors affiliated with the Tharuhat Struggle Committee conducted an attack on security forces in Tikapur, a western city of Nepal. Protestors attacked officers attempting to enforce restrictions with axes, scythes, and spears killing eight, including seven police officers and a two-year-old baby. Police officer Ram Bihari Tharu was burned alive by the protestors.


2015 Tikapur massacre, Background
Minority ethnic groups have been demonstrating across Nepal, saying the new constitution, which would divide the country into seven federal states, would discriminate against them and give them insufficient autonomy.


2015 Tikapur massacre, Convictions
On March 7, 2019, Kailali District Court sentenced 11 people including a member of parliament from Rastriya Janata Party Nepal, Resham Lal Chaudhary to life in prison for their roles in orchestrating and carrying out the massacre. The families of the victims expressed relief, whereas Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal objected on the grounds that the incident was political in nature, not criminal. Legislator Chaudhary is set to be stripped of his position following the sentencing. He has already begun serving his sentence. 12 others were sentenced to 10 years in prison and one accused was sentenced to six months. One of the convicts facing life sentence is due to only serve 10 years since he was a minor at the time of the incident. Three of the tried have been acquitted. More than 30 suspects are still at large.


2015 Tilia Slovenia Open
The 2015 Tilia Slovenia Open was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the third edition of the tournament which was part of the 2015 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Portorož, Slovenia between 10 – 15 August 2015.


2015 Tilia Slovenia Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2015 Tilia Slovenia Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following player entered the singles main draw as an alternate:


2015 Tilia Slovenia Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following player entered the singles main draw as a lucky looser:


2015 Tilia Slovenia Open – Doubles
Sergey Betov and Alexander Bury were the defending champions, but Betov did not participate this year. Bury partnered with Andreas Siljeström, but lost the final against Fabrice Martin and Purav Raja, 6–7(5–7), 6–4, [16–18].


2015 Tilia Slovenia Open – Singles
Blaž Kavčič was the defending champion, but chose not to compete.


2015 Tilia Slovenia Open – Singles
Luca Vanni won the tournament, defeating Grega Žemlja in the final, 6–3, 7–6(8–6).


2015 Tim Hortons Brier
The 2015 Tim Hortons Brier was held from February 28 to March 8 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.


2015 Tim Hortons Brier
In the final, the team of Pat Simmons, John Morris, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen, representing "Team Canada" as defending Brier champions defeated the reigning Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs rink, representing Northern Ontario. Simmons had to make a draw to the button in an extra end to win the championship. With the victory, the Simmons rink went on to represent Canada at the 2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in Halifax, where they won the bronze medal.


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Changes to competition format
For the first time, the event was expanded to include an entry from Nunavut, which has previously not participated in the Brier. Another notable change was having separate entries for the Yukon and Northwest Territories, which had historically competed as a single entry.


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Changes to competition format
Starting with the 2015 tournament, the top ten teams automatically qualified to the main tournament, which was a competition between twelve teams as in years past. An eleventh team was the defending champions from the previous Brier who played as Team Canada. The four remaining unqualified teams played in a pre-qualifying tournament to determine the twelfth team to play in the main tournament.


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Changes to competition format
It was the first time in the history of the Brier that a Team Canada partook, which essentially allowed the defending champions direct re-entry into the event. The skip of the previous year's winning team, Kevin Koe, formed a new team in the off-season and was not be part of Team Canada. Koe won the 2015 Boston Pizza Cup with his new team and represented Alberta at the 2015 Brier. Koe's former teammates recruited John Morris to skip the first ever edition of Team Canada at the Brier. Morris was the runner-up from the previous year.


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Changes to competition format
Similar changes were also implemented for the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, meaning that for the first time the Canadian men's and women's curling championships will be conducted using identical formats. Previous versions of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts differed from the Brier in that they included a Team Canada entry, but did not include a separate entry from Northern Ontario.


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Pat SimmonsThird: John MorrisSecond: Carter RycroftLead: Nolan ThiessenAlternate: Tom Sallows


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Kevin KoeThird: Marc KennedySecond: Brent LaingLead: Ben HebertAlternate: Jamie King


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Jim CotterThird: Ryan KuhnSecond: Tyrel GriffithLead: Rick SawatskyAlternate: Grant Olsen


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Reid CarruthersThird: Braeden MoskowySecond: Derek SamagalskiLead: Colin HodgsonAlternate: Steve Gould


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Jeremy MallaisThird: Zach EldridgeSecond: Chris JeffreyLead: Jared BezansonAlternate: Jason Vaughan


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Brad JacobsThird: Ryan FrySecond: E.J. HarndenLead: Ryan HarndenAlternate: Eric Harnden


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Fourth: Peter BurgessSkip: Glen MacLeodSecond: Colten SteeleLead: Robbie McLeanAlternate: Paul Flemming


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Mark KeanThird: Mathew CammSecond: David MathersLead: Scott HowardAlternate: Bryan Cochrane


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Adam CaseyThird: Josh BarrySecond: Anson CarmodyLead: Robbie Doherty Alternate: Robert Campbell


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Jean-Michel MénardThird: Martin CrêteSecond: Éric SylvainLead: Philippe MénardAlternate: Pierre Charette


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Steve LaycockThird: Kirk MuyresSecond: Colton FlaschLead: Dallan MuyresAlternate: Gerry Adam


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Jamie KoeThird: Mark WhiteheadSecond: Brad ChorostkowskiLead: Robert BordenAlternate: Bill Merklinger


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams
Skip : Bob SmallwoodThird: Wade ScoffinSecond: Steve FecteauLead: Clint IrelandAlternate: Scott Odian


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Teams, CTRS ranking
The #1 ranked Mike McEwen rink lost in the Manitoba final.


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Relegation playoff, Combined record of each province/territory from 2012 to 2014
Nunavut declined to send a team while Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and the Yukon played a single round-robin at the Scotiabank Saddledome in order to determine which one of the three teams would qualify for the tournament. The teams with the two best records were to advance to the play-in game which was contested Saturday, February 28, concurrent with the opening draw of the Brier round-robin. However, each team finished the round robin tied with a 1-1 record which saw Nova Scotia eliminated based on pregame draws to the button. Prince Edward Island then defeated the Yukon to advance to the main draw of the tournament.


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Relegation playoff, Round robin results
All draw times are listed in Mountain Standard Time (UTC−7).


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Round robin results
All draw times are listed in Mountain Standard Time (UTC−7).


2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Playoffs, Final
The 2015 Brier final was the first Brier final to start with four blanks. This game came down to the final stone of the eleventh end, where Pat Simmons had a draw to the pin for the win.


2015 Tippeligaen
The 2015 Tippeligaen was the 71st completed season of top-tier football in Norway. The competition began on 6 April 2015, one week later than in the previous season. A short summer-break in June was scheduled between the rounds played on 12 July and 26 July, and the decisive match was played on 8 November 2015. Molde were the defending champions. Sandefjord, Tromsø and Mjøndalen joined as the promoted clubs from the 2014 1. divisjon. They replaced Brann, Sogndal and Sandnes Ulf who were relegated to the 2015 1. divisjon.


2015 Tippeligaen, Teams
The league was contested by 16 teams: the 13 best teams of the 2014 season; the two teams who won direct promotion from the 2014 1. divisjon, Sandefjord and Tromsø; and Mjøndalen, who won the promotion/relegation play-off finals against Brann.


2015 Tippeligaen, Relegation play-offs, Final
The 14th-placed team, Start, took part in a two-legged play-off against Jerv, the winners of the 2015 1. divisjon promotion play-offs, to decide who would play in the 2016 Tippeligaen.


2015 Tippeligaen, Relegation play-offs, Final
Start won 4–2 on aggregate and retained their place in the 2016 Tippeligaen; Jerv remained in the 1. divisjon.


2015 Tippeligaen, Season statistics, Hat-tricks
4 Player scored 4 goals(H) – Home team(A) – Away team


2015 Tippeligaen, Season statistics, Attendances
Updated to games played on 26 October 2015Source: , Notes:1: Team played last season in 1. divisjon


2015 Tipperary Senior Football Championship
The 2015 Tipperary Senior Football Championship was the main club football championship that took place in County Tipperary. Loughmore-Castleiney were the defending champions after winning their 13th title in 2014, but lost in the quarter-finals to Clonmel Commercials.


2015 Tipperary Senior Football Championship
Clonmel Commercials won their 16th title after a 1-12 to 3-5 win against Moyle Rovers in the final.


2015 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship
The 2015 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship is the 125th staging of the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Tipperary County Board in 1887. The championship began on 4 April 2015 and ended on 25 October 2015.


2015 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship
Thurles Sarsfields were the defending champions and retained their title.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season
The 2015 season was Eamon O'Shea's third and final year as manager of the Tipperary senior hurling team.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season
In October 2014, O'Shea confirmed that he would stay on for a third year as Tipperary manager. It was also confirmed that Michael Ryan will succeed O'Shea as manager on a two-year term after the conclusion of the 2015 season. Declan Fanning also joined the back-room team for 2015 as a selector. Brendan Maher continued as captain for a second year with Pádraic Maher remaining as vice-captain.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season
On 15 March, Intersport/Elverys became the new sponsors of Tipperary GAA, a sponsorship that covers both the hurling and football codes and includes all grades from minor to senior inter-county teams for the next two years. The new look Tipperary jersey for the 2015 season was unveiled displaying the Intersport brand name on the front and their co-sponsor Elvery's name on the back. The new jersey was used for the first time against Kilkenny on 15 March in the National League.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season
On 17 April, it was announced that Noel McGrath would undergo surgery to help treat testicular cancer. He returned to the Tipperary panel in August and came on as a substitute in the All-Ireland Semi-final defeat to Galway.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season
On 30 April, Paul Curran announced his retirement from inter-county hurling. In May, Curran accepted a position as a member of the backroom team for the championship.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 senior hurling management team, 2015 squad
The following players made their competitive senior debut in 2015.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 senior hurling management team, 2015 squad
The Tipperary squad returned home from a pre-season holiday to Dubai on 5 January. It was confirmed on 7 January that Michael Cahill and James Barry would miss the majority of the National Hurling League. Barry had an operation to cure a hip problem and Cahill will have surgery on a similar problem. John Meagher, Michael Breen, and Bill Maher have been added to the Tipperary squad from the extended squad in 2014. Five newcomers were also named in the squad: David Butler, Liam Treacy, John McGrath, Sean Maher and Joe O’Dwyer.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, Challenge Games
On 11 January, Tipperary defeated Wexford by 2-15 to 0-16 in a Senior Hurling Challenge game played in Cashel. Wexford led by 0-10 to 1-4 at half time with the aid of the breeze. David Butler got the goal for Tipperary with the goal. Conor Kenny got the second goal as Tipperary won by five points. On 17 May, Tippeary lost on a 3-18 to 2-22 scoreline in a challenge at Upperchurch-Drombane GAA club, held to mark the opening of new facilities at the ground.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Waterford Crystal Cup, Summary
Seamus Callanan spared Tipperary's blushes with a second-half hat-trick of goals as Tipperary defeated Mary Immaculate College Limerick by 4–16 to 1–16 in the Preliminary Round of the Waterford Crystal Cup on 9 January. David Butler scored four points from corner forward after recently being added to the panel. Eamon O’Shea handed starts to newcomers Joe O’Dwyer, Stephen Maher, Liam Treacy, Sean Maher and David Butler. On 18 January, Tipperary travelled to O'Garney Park in Sixmilebridg to take on Clare in the Quarter-finals. In front of a crowd of 1,342, Tipperary lost the game by a point on a 0-15 to 0-16 scoreline. Clare led by 0-8 to 0-7 at half-time. An injury-time point from Colin Ryan was the crucial score to give Clare the victory.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
Tipperary started their league campaign on 15 February with an away game against Dublin which was shown live on TG4. Tipperary lost the game by twelve points on a 2-20 to 0-14 scoreline. Tipperary had started with 11 of the side that lost the previous years All-Ireland final to Kilkenny, and were 1-11 to 0-5 down at half time. Speaking after the game Tipperary manager Eamon O’Shea said "It was a bad performance and I have no excuses, none, It concerns me alright. Dublin played some really good hurling and it was the opposite for us. We were reasonably optimistic coming here. We're only hurling one day a week at the moment, but I wouldn't use that as an excuse, We were beaten by a team who wanted to win the ball more than we did, so we're disappointed.”


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
A week later on 22 February, Tipperary beat Galway by four points in 1-18 to 0-20 win at Semple Stadium. Tipperary were 10 points ahead with 25 minutes remaining before Galway came back. Speaking after the game to RTÉ Sport, Tipperary manager Eamon O’Shea said “The wind was swirling, and it was raining at times, So, it could have gone either way. We got a cushion after half-time, and it saw us over the line."


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
Next up on 8 March was an away game against Clare in Ennis. The game was shown live on TG4. At half-time, Tipperary were leading by 0-13 to 0-09. Tipperary won the game by 2-19 to 0-20 with James Woodlock getting the crucial second goal, shooting into the top corner of the net when he was sent clear by Séamus Callanan. ipperary manager Eamon O'Shea was happy that his players' hard work paid off against Clare saying "t was good and I'm delighted for them because they've been working really hard all the time.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
The league goes up and down, I wouldn't be thinking everything's fine just because you win one or your lose one, I think the nature of the league is that, as you saw with Dublin and Cork yesterday, it will fluctuate. I'm just happy but again I'll say it's early March and the pitches don't run as quick."


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
On 15 March Tipperary defeated Kilkenny by 2-22 to 1-13 to qualify for the quarter-finals of the league with a game to spare. Goals in either half from Séamus Callanan and Niall O’Meara made it three wins in a row for Tipperary. The win was their first victory over Kilkenny since a League win two years previous, and just their second in the last 12 League and championship games against Kilkenny.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
The last game against Cork took place on 22 March in Páirc Uí Rinn. Tipperary were losing by twelve points with fifteen minutes remaining, but came back to win by one point for their fourth league win in a row. Cork had led by 0-15 to 0-13 at half time. Tipperary manager Eamon O'Shea said that his side could easily have lost and attributed their come-from-behind one-point win to the players' belief and never-say-die attitude. Tipperary finished as division 1A winners and top seeds and played division 1B's fourth-placed team Offaly, in the quarter-finals on 29 March in Tullamore.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
Tipperary won the game on a 1-16 to 0-13 scoreline to qualify for a semi-final against Waterford on 19 April at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. Kieran Bergin sustained an ankle ligament damage injury in the game and will miss the remainder of the League, while Seamus Callanan received a straight red card for an off the ball strike two minutes into the second half. Tipperary had a 1-14 to 0-4 half time lead in the game. Cathal Barrett received a second yellow card with six minutes to play with Tipperary finishing the game with thirteen men.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
Tipperary officials appealed against the red card received by Seamus Callananin was rejected by the GAA's Central Hearings Committee (CHC) on 2 April. The Committee also turned down Cathal Barrett's appeal against the first of two yellow cards he was shown. On 6 April, the Tipperary panel left for hot weather training in Spain, returning on 11 April. On 16 April, Seamus Callanan's red card decision was rescinded by the CAC clearing him to play in the league semi-final against Waterford. The semi-final will be shown live on TG4.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
In the semi-final Tipperary lost by one point on a 2-15 to 1-19 scoreline after leading by  2-8 to 0-11 at half-time. Eamon O’Shea felt Tipperary were a bit flat during the game, saying "I thought during the week that we were a little bit off, but you never know for sure until the match comes along,”Even when we were ahead I thought we were lacking energy and lacking composure, so I'd say we were a bit flat. Why? I'm not sure, it's very early after a game to be assessing that.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Summary
Having said that they were beaten by a team that performed well on the day, good energy, good movement and so I'd have no complaints. I thought we might sneak it there with the extra-time because I did think we came back well, but having said that I think we have got something out of the league.”


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 National Hurling League, Results
D Gleeson   C Barrett, C O'Mahony, P Curran   M Breen, P Maher, R Maher  K Bergin, J Woodlock  J O'Dwyer, B Maher, J Forde  N McGrath, S Callanan, N O'Meara


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary were drawn to take on the winners of the Munster quarter-final between Clare and Limerick in a game which will be held on 21 June at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Limerick beat Clare on a 1-19 to 2-15 scoreline.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
On 30 April the Tipperary senior panel was reduced in size with former captain Paul Curran being cut from the panel. Tom Stapleton, Shane Bourke, David Butler, Micheal Butler, Bill Maher, Sean Maher, Stephen Maher, Joe O’Dwyer and Liam Treacy were also released from the squad. On 1 May Paul Curran announced his retirement from inter-county hurling.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
The match against Limerick was played in front of a bumper crowd in excess of 30,000, and was shown live on RTÉ2 on The Sunday Game live with commentary from Ger Canning and Michael Duignan . Tipperary were hoping to win their first Munster Championship match since the final in 2012. The Tipperary team was announced on Friday 19 June with John O’Dwyer starting following a recent injury scare. Eleven of the side that started the 2014 All Ireland Final replay were named in the team.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Limerick playing with the wind in the first half opened up a three-point lead after nine minutes before Tipperary came into the game to lead by six points at half time on a 2-12 to 0-12 scoreline. Seamus Callanan scored both of the goals in the first half for Tipperary with two low shots to the net.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary failed to score in the first fourteen minutes of the second half as Limerick narrowed to the lead to one point on a  2-12 to 1-14 scoreline, the Limerick goal coming from a penalty by Shane Dowling after Darren Gleeson had made three saves previous to the foul for the penalty. Tipperary came back into the game with Jason Forde getting their first point before they went on to win the final 20 minutes of the game by 2-11 to 0-2.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Jason Forde got the third goal for Tipperary with a low shot to the corner from the left with substitute Michael Breen getting the fourth goal in injury time. The 16-point win was Tipperary's biggest Munster Championship success over Limerick for 53 years. John O'Dwyer was named as the man of the match on the Sunday game by Dónal O'Grady and Brendan Cummins.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary manager Eamon O'Shea speaking after the game said "I'm proud of the players, the players are really good and working with these boys is such a joy. It gives me energy and that's why I really want to see them do well. But for me? I'm not in the picture here. The players are the real heroes and I just sit and watch them. They have an awful lot to do yet to get anywhere where they want to be but it's never about the manager, ever."


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
O'Shea also admitted he was surprised by the 16-point winning margin saying "“It probably was more emphatic than we thought. I thought there was still a lot of hurling left in the game. I thought we held our nerve when they came back at us and showed a lot of resilience. The experience gained over the last couple of years has been really good for us, you know?"


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary played Waterford in the Munster Final on 12 July at Semple Stadium.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
In the final Tipperary won by five points on a 0-21 to 0-16 scoreline. The win was Tipperary's 41st Munster Senior title and first since 2012.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary made two changes to the team that defeated Limerick with Michael Breen making his full championship debut at right half-back and the fit again Cathal Barrett taking over from injured Paddy Stapleton at right corner back. Conor O’Brien is replaced by Ronan Maher in the full back line. The match was shown live on RTÉ Two as part of The Sunday Game Live with commentary from Marty Morrissey and Michael Duignan.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary got the opening point with a strike from Niall O’Meara with Colin Dunford getting Waterford's first score to make it two points to one after 5 minutes. Tipperary opened up a four-point lead after 12 minutes on a six points to two scoreline and had a 0-10 to 0-9 lead at half time, helped by four Seamus Callanan points. Jason Forde got the opening score of the second half to push Tipperary's lead to two points. Maurice Shanahan got the equalizing score for Waterford in the 43rd minute to make the score 0-11 each.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
John O'Dwyer got his third point in the 58th minute to open up a three-point lead for Tipperary. Lar Corbett then increased the lead to four with a long range shot. Seamus Callanan scored another point from a 65 to increase the lead back to four after Maurice Shanahan had got one back for Waterford. Two more points from Tipperary increase the lead to five points before both teams traded points to leave the final score 0-21 to Tipperary, 0-16 to Waterford.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Eamon O'Shea who picked up his first major trophy said "“I thought we started well, we tried to keep the ball open. In the second-half I thought we did better, we moved the ball. We got a few breaks at various times and managed to get the points.”“I don't always feel the silverware is as important as the outside thinks, but it is important. I thought it important we stayed at the game - they're a resilient bunch, they’ve been through a fair bit. “We had nine Munster final debutants, sometimes people think we’ve been going since the year 2000.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
We had nine people who played their first Munster final there - I think that's good, to have that transition. “I thought a five-point win - maybe those who watch the game don't call it a close game, but for me it was as close as it gets. I didn't relax until the last minute of play. “We’ve been through close games and sometimes we’ve come out the wrong side of them, but you have to be careful judging a team who come out the wrong side of a game by a point or two.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
I was always happy the team would be capable of winning a really tight match, and today was a really tight match.”On the The Sunday Game on the night of the match, Tipperary captain Brendan Maher was  named as the man of the match by a panel consisting of Donal Óg Cusack and Eddie Brennan. The other nominees were Tipperary's Cathal Barrett and Waterford's Maurice Shanahan.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
By winning the Munster championship, Tipperary qualified for the semi-finals of the All-Ireland championship on 16 August at Croke Park. Tipperary found out there opponents in the semi-final on 26 July after Galway defeated Cork in the quarter-final by 2-18 to 0-22 at Semple Stadium in Thurles.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
It was the second year in a row that Tipperary would meet Galway in the Championship after Tipperary won by 3-25 - 4-13 in 2014 in the first round of the qualifiers. Tickets for the match ranged in price from €40 for the stands to €25 for Hill 16. The match was shown live on RTÉ2 and on Sky Sports with commentary from Marty Morrissey and Michael Duignan. Michael Lyster presented from the Croke Park studio with analysts Cyril Farrell, Ger Loughnane, and Liam Sheedy.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
In a game that looked like it was going to end in a draw, Galway substitute Shane Moloney scored with practically the last puck of the game to win it for Galway by a point. The match has been called a classic and the best hurling match of 2015.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary made one change to the team that won the Munster Final with Conor O’Brien starting instead of Michael Breen at left-corner back.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Playing into the Hill 16 end, Seamus Callanan scored a goal for Tipperary after 38 seconds when he caught a long ball into the square ahead of Padraig Mannion before turning and firing to the net. After nine minutes Cyril Donnellan was brought down as he went in on goal with Darren Gleeson saving Joe Canning's penalty strike to his right. Galway had a one-point lead at half time on a 0-13 to 1-9 scoreline with two of their points coming in first half stoppage time.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Galway got the opening score in the second half, a sideline cut after two minutes. Two minutes later, Seamus Callanan got his second goal when gets up above Padraig Mannion to win the dropping ball and fire low to the left of the goalkeeper to put Tipperary a point in front. The sides were level again after 52 minutes when in the next minute Seamus Callanan got his third goal when he again beat Padraig Mannion on the left before shooting low past the goalkeeper to put Tipperary three points up.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
With eight minutes to go Noel McGrath came on for Tipperary, four months after having surgery for cancer. With five minutes to go Tipperary were awarded a penalty when Callanan was cynically pulled down by John Hanbury. Callanan took the penalty, shooting it over the bar to put Tipperary a point in front again. The sides were level again before Noel McGrath put Tipperary a point in front in the last minute. In the first minute of stoppage time Jason Flynn leveled the scores before Shane Moloney scored the winning point with fifteen seconds left of the third and last minute of stoppage time. The referee played ten seconds over the three minutes before blowing the whistle for full-time.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Seamus Callanan who finished with 3-9 was awarded the man of the match by The Sunday Game panel beating Galway's Jason Flynn and Colm Callanan to the award. Des Cahill presented The Sunday Game highlights programme on the night of the match with guests Donal Óg Cusack, Henry Shefflin, and Anthony Daly.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
The match was Eamon O'Shea's last game as Tipperary manager as he had planned to leave the position at the end of the 2015 Championship. Michael Ryan took over as manager from 2016. The Tipperary County Board thanked O'Shea for his services to the county.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Speaking after the game, O'Shea	said "“Tipperary is over for me, being involved with Tipperary is over for me, we did what we could, we tried to play the game in a particular way. There are men in Tipperary who can carry this on. I just feel that we gave it everything every time we went out. We tried to win. We didn't always win. We were beaten by a point, beaten by three points. It doesn't look great sometimes but we did our utmost to win these games. I said to the players, the belief I have in them and the belief I have that they can continue and go on and grow better when I'm not there is really strong. Somebody else will go on and do this better than I did. That's all you can do."


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2015 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
Speaking in August 2016, Tipperary captain Brendan Maher called the defeat one of the toughest in his career saying "Last year's semi-final defeat was one of the toughest I have had in my career, but then in saying that I remember crying for days after the 2009 All-Ireland, the 2011 defeat, and in 2014, being captain there was a little bit more on the line for myself."


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, Awards
The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 6 September, which was the night of the 2015 All-Ireland Final. Tipperary had two players named in the team for 2015, Cathal Barrett was picked at number four with Seamus Callinan picked at full forward. On 10 September, Seamus Callanan was named as the Opel GPA/GAA player of the month for August. In October, Seamus Callanan was named as one of the three nominees for the Hurler of the Year award.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, Awards
The All Star nominees were announced in October with Darren Gleeson, Pádraic Maher, Cathal Barrett, James Barry, Brendan Maher, John O’Dwyer, and Séamus Callanan being nominated for awards. The winners of the hurling awards were announced on 5 November with the awards ceremony being held on 6 November in the National Convention Centre in Dublin. Séamus Callinan picked up Tipperary's only award and his second All Star award, being picked at full-forward.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, 2016 Season
In October 2014, it had been confirmed that assistant manager Michael Ryan would succeed Eamon O'Shea as the Tipperary manager after the conclusion of the 2015 season. In November 2015, it was confirmed that Ryan would be assisted by former Tipperary player's John Madden as a sector and Declan Fanning as a coach in 2016. 1995 All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship winning captain Brian Horgan was added to the backroom team on 20 November. Brendan Maher was confirmed as captain for 2016 in December with Pádraic Maher retaining the role of vice-captain.


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, Retirements
On 13 November, Conor O'Mahony announced his retirement from inter-county hurling. He made his last appearance in the All Ireland semi-final defeat against Galway. In a statement he said "Having had the great honour of playing with Tipperary at all levels over the last 15 years, I have decided to call time on my inter-county hurling career. It was a huge privilege for me to play with Tipperary, I will have great memories from my time as a Tipperary player and particularly of 2010 when we won the All Ireland senior hurling championship."


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, Retirements
On 14 November, James Woodlock announced his retirement from inter-county hurling. In a statement he said “It has been a great honour for me to have been part of Tipperary hurling teams at minor, under 21 and senior level but the time has now come for me to announce my retirement from the inter-county scene, I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Tipperary senior hurling panel and I am very grateful to the managers who gave me the opportunity to play for the county."


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, Retirements
On 17 November, Shane McGrath also announced his retirement from inter-county hurling. In a statement he said "After over 10 years on the Tipperary senior hurling panel, I have decided that now is the right time to announce my retirement from inter-county hurling, It was a great honour and privilege for me to play with Tipperary and I will greatly miss being involved with the special group of people that is the Tipperary senior hurling panel. I have many great memories and made many lifelong friendships over the last decade or so. I want to thank all the players sincerely. While we endured some disappointments, we had so many great times together and we have always been united in our ambition and commitment to bring success to Tipperary."


2015 Tipperary county hurling team season, Retirements
On 18 November 2015, Lar Corbett announced his retirement from inter-county hurling. In a statement he said "Over the past 15 years I have enjoyed many great times playing senior hurling with Tipperary but I've decided that now is the time to announce my retirement. It was a huge honour for me to play with Tipperary and I have many great memories and friendships from my time on the panel."


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico
The 2015 Tirreno–Adriatico was the 50th edition of the Tirreno–Adriatico stage race. It took place from 11 to 17 March and was the third race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race was one of the most important races in the early part of the cycling season and was used by riders preparing both for the Grand Tours and for the classics season.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico
The route of the 2015 edition started and finished with individual time trials, one of which was rescheduled from a team time trial shortly before the race began. In between, the race consisted of two stages suitable for sprinters, one for puncheurs and two for climbers. The key stage of the race was stage 5, which involved a summit finish on Monte Terminillo. The defending champion from the 2014 edition was Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo), who was expected to be challenged by three of the strongest stage racers in the world, Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Chris Froome (Team Sky). Froome, however, pulled out shortly before the race.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico
The first individual time trial was won by Adriano Malori (Movistar Team), who kept the lead for the first two stages. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Wout Poels (Team Sky) won the next two stages, each taking the race lead for one day. The queen stage to Monte Terminillo was won by Quintana, who took the overall lead and was able to defend it to the end of the race. Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) finished second, 18 seconds behind Quintana, with Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step) third.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico
Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo) won the points classification, after he won one stage and finished in the top ten on three others. The mountains classification was won by Carlos Quintero (Colombia), while Quintana won the young rider classification as a consequence of his overall race victory.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Teams
As Tirreno-Adriatico was a UCI World Tour event, all 17 UCI WorldTeams were invited automatically and were obliged to send a squad. Five Professional Continental teams received wildcard invitations.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Pre-race favourites
The key stages on the general classification were expected to be the time trials and the summit finish. The race was originally expected to be the first contest of the season between the four riders expected to contest the Tour de France: the 2014 Tirreno–Adriatico champion Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo), the 2013 Tirreno–Adriatico champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) and Chris Froome (Team Sky). Shortly before the race, however, Froome withdrew on account of a chest infection (he had also withdrawn at the last minute in 2013).


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Pre-race favourites
Following Froome's withdrawal, Contador was seen as the main favourite for the race; he had demonstrated his form when he and Froome fought a close battle in the Vuelta a Andalucía weeks earlier. Nibali, however, had not yet shown good form in the 2015 season, while Quintana had not raced for several weeks following a crash. Other riders considered to have a chance in the general classification included Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step), Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Dan Martin (Cannondale–Garmin) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ).


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Pre-race favourites
As well as losing Froome from the general classification battle, the race also lost one of the riders expected to challenge for stage wins. Marcel Kittel (Team Giant–Alpecin) withdrew from the race with a virus. The principal sprinters left in the race were Mark Cavendish (Etixx–Quick-Step), Elia Viviani (Team Sky), Tyler Farrar (MTN–Qhubeka) and Sam Bennett (Bora–Argon 18). The race was also notable as the first time when Peter Sagan raced alongside Contador in the Tinkoff–Saxo team; Sagan was expected to feature both on the sprint stages and on the uphill finish on stage 3.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Route
Tirreno–Adriatico was an important race in the early part of the road cycling season. It was the third UCI World Tour race of the year, running at the same time as Paris–Nice. The two races compete for prestige and for the best riders. Tirreno–Adriatico was an important test as part of riders' preparations both for the Grand Tours and for the classics races, such as Milan–San Remo. The race generally took the riders east across central Italy, from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic Sea – the race is therefore sometimes known as the "race of the two seas" – and the Italian names of the seas give the name Tirreno–Adriatico.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Route
The race was originally intended to begin with a 22-kilometre (13.7 mi) team time trial around Lido di Camaiore. This was expected to be a difficult test and to result in significant gaps in the general classification. Heavy wind and rain in the week before the race, however, forced the race organisers, RCS Sport, to change this stage. Though the start and finish lines were unchanged, the stage was shortened, first to 5.7 kilometres (3.5 mi), then to 5.4 kilometres (3.4 mi); it was also changed to be an individual time trial. This was expected to result in smaller gaps; it was a particular blow to the Orica–GreenEDGE team, who had based most of their squad around the team time trial.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Route
Stage 2 was a fairly flat stage, expected to suit the sprinters preparing for Milan–San Remo. Stage 3 was also unlikely to change the general classification, though it included a steep uphill finish. The key stages, however, came on the weekend. Stage 4 was a difficult, mountainous stage with a downhill finish. The following day's route had a summit finish on the 16-kilometre (10-mile) climb of Monte Terminillo. Stage 6 was another fairly flat stage and the race ended on the Adriatic coast with another individual time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 1
Stage 1 was originally intended to be a 22.7-kilometre (14.1-mile) team time trial, but bad weather (high wind and torrential rain) in the week leading up to the event made this impossible. The race organisers reduced the race to a 5.7-kilometre (3.5-mile) individual time trial; on the day of the race, this was shortened by a further 300 metres (980 ft). The course was based in the Lido di Camaiore holiday resort on the Tyrrhenian coast and was entirely flat. The out-and-back course meant that the riders had a tailwind on the first half of the course and a headwind on the second.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 1
The early benchmark time was set by Daniel Oss (BMC Racing Team), who completed the course in 6' 08". A good time was also set by Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), whose time was 6' 10" and who was the best young rider in the stage. Sagan did well to set such a good time, since he hit a pavement early in his ride and nearly fell. Oss kept the lead for a long time, but was eventually overtaken by Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling).


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 1
Brändle, however, was immediately overtaken by Adriano Malori (Movistar Team), the Italian national time trial champion – who won the closing time trial of the 2014 Tirreno–Adriatico – with a time of 6' 04". Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff–Saxo), Steve Cummings (MTN–Qhubeka) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) all came close to Malori's time, but were unable to beat it. The principal favourite for the stage, former world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), finished one second behind Malori, who therefore won the stage, winning both the blue jersey of the overall leader of the race and the red jersey of the points classification leader.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 1
Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step) was the fastest of the general classification contenders, finishing 19th on the stage, 10" behind Malori. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was the first of the three major favourites for the race, one second behind Urán. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) both lost time.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
The second stage of the race was a 153-kilometre (95-mile) route from Camaiore, the location of stage 1, to Cascina. The course started with one and a half laps of a circuit around Camaiore, including the only two categorised climbs of the day, before heading south-east towards the city of Lucca. After leaving Lucca, the course turned west, then headed north to enter Cascina. In Cascina, the riders completed two laps of a 20.7-kilometre (12.9-mile) finishing circuit. Although the final circuit was flat, there were three roundabouts, a sharp turn and a bridge in the final 5 kilometres (3.1 miles).


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
An early breakaway was formed on the circuit around Camaiore. This was made up of seven riders: Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani–CSF), Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team), Cristiano Salerno and Patrick Konrad (Bora–Argon 18), Camilo Castiblanco, Carlos Quintero (both Colombia) and Martijn Keizer (LottoNL–Jumbo). The breakaway built up a lead of over six minutes and took all the mountains classification points. Wyss won the first ahead of Quintero; Quintero beat Wyss on the second climb. Wyss went on to take the jersey for the leader of the mountains classification thanks to his better general classification standing after the stage.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
The breakaway was carefully controlled by the sprinters' teams − principally Etixx–Quick-Step and Tinkoff–Saxo − and with 91 kilometres (57 miles) remaining the breakaway had less than three minutes' lead. The gap was reduced to less than 90 seconds as the peloton entered the finishing circuit with 41.4 kilometres (25.7 miles) remaining.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
About 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) later, Zardini attacked and was followed by Quintero and Salerno. These three riders continued alone; they had less than a minute's lead as they entered the final lap of the circuit with 20.7 kilometres (12.9 miles) remaining and were caught soon afterwards. There was a crash in the peloton 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) from the finish, which eliminated Matteo Pelucchi (Lampre–Merida) from contention, as well as causing some delay for Orica–GreenEDGE's general classification rider Adam Yates.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
Going into the final kilometres of the race, several teams were competing at the front of the peloton. MTN–Qhubeka, Tinkoff–Saxo and Etixx–Quick-Step all tried to set up their sprinters, with Zdeněk Štybar particularly prominent. MTN–Qhubeka led the group under the flamme rouge with 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) remaining, as Edvald Boasson Hagen attempted to lead out his teammate Tyler Farrar. In the final few hundred metres, however, there was a large crash. Mark Cavendish (Etixx–Quick-Step) suddenly moved right, clashing wheels with Elia Viviani (Team Sky).


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
Cavendish was unable to continue sprinting, while Viviani was thrown from his bike while riding at over 70 km/h (43 mph). Several other riders were brought down in the incident, including Sacha Modolo (Lampre–Merida) and Luka Mezgec (Team Giant–Alpecin). This crash left a small group of 12 riders to contest the stage finish. Jens Debusschere (Lotto–Soudal), riding in the colours of the Belgian national champion, outsprinted Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo) on the line; Sam Bennett (Bora–Argon 18) finished third. Thanks to the time bonus he won for coming second, Sagan moved up into second place overall, on the same time as Malori. Debusschere, meanwhile, moved into the lead of the points classification.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 2
It was revealed after the stage that Cavendish's sudden movement had been caused by his chain falling off the big chainring. The loss of power caused him to swerve right and Viviani was unable to avoid him. Viviani suffered cuts and abrasions from the crash, though he avoided any broken bones and was able to complete the stage. Etixx–Quick-Step were keen to investigate the incident, as Tom Boonen had suffered a similar problem in the Tour of Qatar.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 3
Stage 3 took the riders on a 203-kilometre (126-mile) route from Cascina to Arezzo. The route was very similar to stage 3 of the previous year's race, with a long route east, including two categorised climbs, and a finishing circuit in Arezzo. In the 2015 edition, the riders did five laps of a 15-kilometre (9.3-mile) circuit. The final 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) of the circuit was difficult: it was uphill, with one section of 11%, there was a narrow gate and one section of road was cobbled. On the previous year's stage, Peter Sagan had beaten Michał Kwiatkowski (Etixx–Quick-Step) in the sprint.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 3
The early breakaway was formed by Nicola Boem (Bardiani–CSF), Carlos Quintero (Colombia), Chad Haga (Team Giant–Alpecin), Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team) and Rick Flens (LottoNL–Jumbo). Wyss, the leader of the mountains classification, won both mountain sprints, with Quintero behind him both times. With 95 kilometres (59 miles) left to race, the breakaway had a five-minute lead. Sagan's Tinkoff–Saxo team, however, controlled the race carefully: Matteo Tosatto and Christopher Juul-Jensen both put in long efforts on the front of the peloton to bring the group back. The lead was less than a minute with 30 kilometres (19 miles) left to race and the breakaway split. 18.5 kilometres (11.5 miles) from the end, Boem and Haga were the last riders of the group to be caught.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 3
Tinkoff–Saxo controlled the peloton in the following kilometres, with BMC Racing Team, Team Sky and IAM Cycling close behind. Sagan's teammates, however, were quickly running out and, with 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) remaining, he only had Maciej Bodnar left to support him. BMC, meanwhile, had several riders left to support Greg Van Avermaet. Van Avermaet was therefore perfectly positioned as the climb began and attacked towards the top. He won a small gap ahead of Zdeněk Štybar (Etixx–Quick-Step) and was able to hold on to his lead to take the stage victory.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 3
Sagan was the quickest in the final metres, but he had started too far back; although he was able to pass Stybar to finish second on the stage, he was unable to catch Van Avermaet. Sagan did, however, take the lead in the points classification. Van Avermaet took over the lead in the general classification thanks to the bonus seconds he won on the stage.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 4
The fourth stage of the race was the longest stage of the race at 226 kilometres (140 miles). The route took the riders from Arezzo east, with intermediate sprints in Gubbio and Fabriano and two classified climbs. The riders then entered a 11.5-kilometre (7.1-mile) finishing circuit around the town of Castelraimondo. The riders did two laps of the circuit, each of which included the climb of the Crispiero, a 3-kilometre (1.9-mile) climb with an average gradient of over 9%. Following the climb, there was a technical 6-kilometre (3.7-mile) descent into the stage finish.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 4
The early breakaway was formed by two riders from Orica–GreenEDGE, Mathew Hayman and Luke Durbridge. The two riders built up a lead of over seven minutes ahead of the main peloton, though it seemed that both riders had crashed at some point on the route, away from the view of the television cameras. Two separate chasing groups formed: one was made up of Nathan Haas (Cannondale–Garmin) and Carlos Quintero (Colombia); the other was formed by Walter Pedraza, Miguel Ángel Rubiano (both Colombia) and Manuel Quinziato (BMC Racing Team). Neither of the chase groups was successful, however, and the lead pair stayed clear until Durbridge tired with 21 kilometres (13 miles) remaining. Hayman was caught soon afterwards.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 4
On the first climb of the Crispiero, Giovanni Visconti (Movistar Team) attacked along with Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Julián Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing). Visconti was the first to cross the summit, with Daniel Moreno (Team Katusha) catching the group on the descent. The riders were caught, however, on the flat section between the two climbs, with approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) still to race. The peloton was led at this point by Tinkoff–Saxo. After the group was caught, AG2R La Mondiale came forwards in support of Domenico Pozzovivo.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 4
Alexis Vuillermoz led the peloton into the foot of the final climb, dropping Van Avermaet, the race leader, with about 8 kilometres (5.0 miles) left. Giampaolo Caruso (Team Katusha) was the next to attack. As he was approaching the summit and looking at the group behind, Wout Poels (Team Sky) attacked and came past on Caruso's left.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 4
Poels therefore entered the descent off the Crispiero alone, with several seconds lead over the main group. The main favourites for the general classification hesitated before taking up the chase, allowing Poels to build a lead. Eventually, Katusha attempted to chase him down, but Poels was able to make the most of the difficult descent and built a 20-second lead. Although this was reduced on the way to the finish, Poels held on to take the win, his first for Team Sky. He also moved into the overall lead of the race, with a 17-second advantage over Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step), who had won the sprint for second place in the group behind.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 4
Poels, who was leading Sky in the absence of Chris Froome, expressed hope after the stage that he would be able to defend his race lead on the summit finish the following day. In the other classifications, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) moved into the lead of the young riders competition, as he moved up to fourth place in the general classification. Quintero, having been part of the breakaway for the third day running, took enough mountain points on the stage to move into the lead of the mountains classification.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
Stage 5 was the queen stage of the 2015 Tirreno−Adriatico and the only summit finish of the race. It took the riders on a 199-kilometre (124-mile) course from Esanatoglia. The peloton first travelled south, crossing three significant climbs in the first 72 kilometres (45 miles). The middle of the stage was flat, as the riders travelled southwest towards Terni, but the final part of the stage was difficult. The route first passed through Rieti, then turned east towards the summit finish at a ski station on Monte Terminillo.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
The final climb was 16.1 kilometres (10.0 miles) in length, with an average gradient of 7.3% and a total ascent of 1,175 metres (3,855 ft). The steepest sections were in the first part of the climb (one section had a gradient of 12%); the rest of the climb had a steady incline, except for the final few hundred metres of false flat. The stage took place in cold, difficult conditions with temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F). There were rumours before the stage that it would have to be cancelled, but these were refuted by the race organisers and the stage took place as planned.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
The day's main breakaway was formed early on by Maxime Monfort (Lotto–Soudal), Michele Scarponi, Andriy Hrivko (both Astana), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing Team), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale), Paul Voß (Bora–Argon 18), Ángel Vicioso (Team Katusha) and Jesús Herrada (Movistar Team). They built up a lead of over seven minutes after 60 kilometres (37 miles) of racing. Montaguti won both mountain sprints early in the stage, with Scarponi second on both occasions.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
After the two climbs, the main peloton made an effort to reduce the breakaway's lead and the gap was reduced to two minutes at the base of the final climb of the day. The breakaway disintegrated on the final climb, with Scarponi, De Marchi and Monfort forming a lead group. In the peloton, Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) and Ivan Basso (Tinkoff–Saxo) were setting the pace. Scarponi pulled clear of De Marchi and Monfort to lead the race solo, as Roman Kreuziger and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo) briefly pulled clear of the main pack.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
As the riders entered the final 5 kilometres (3.1 miles), snow began to fall. As Contador drifted back in the pack, Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) attacked and immediately broke clear of the pack. Contador tried to respond but was unable to take Quintana's wheel. Contador ended up in a group of about 15 riders chasing Quintana. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was dropped at this point, while Quintana quickly caught up to Scarponi.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
Contador twice made attacks on the chasing group, but on both occasions was unable to break free, although the race leader, Wout Poels (Team Sky) was dropped, while Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step) also made an unsuccessful attack. Finally, Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) put in a successful attack and dropped the group behind. Contador did most of the work in a group of five riders, including Urán, Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Adam Yates (Orica–GreenEDGE).


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
The group did not keep up a steady pace, however, and Quintana was able to reach the finish line with a lead of 41 seconds over Mollema and 55 seconds over Contador's group. Quintana therefore moved into the lead of the overall classification, 39 seconds ahead of Mollema and over a minute ahead of Contador. Poels, meanwhile, finished 16th on the stage, 1' 37" behind Quintana, and dropped to tenth in the general classification.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 5
After the stage, several riders expressed displeasure with the extreme weather conditions. Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) was prominent among them, as he had been in a dispute over hot weather at the Tour of Oman, with Filippo Pozzato (Lampre–Merida) and Luca Paolini (Team Katusha) expressing similar concerns. The conditions were particularly difficult for the riders in the gruppetto, as the conditions they faced in the final kilometres were significantly worse than those faced by the race leaders. Cancellara and other riders called for an extreme-weather policy to govern racing in such conditions.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
The sixth stage was the final road stage of the race. It took the riders from the city of Rieti, at the foot of Monte Terminillo, northeast to finish on the Adriatic coast at Porto Sant'Elpidio over a 210-kilometre (130.5-mile) route. The first part was a 181.2-kilometre (112.6-mile) route, which took the riders from the startline and across some medium mountains. The most difficult climb was at Montelparo and came 78.8 kilometres (49.0 miles) from the finish line. Once the riders had reached Porto Sant'Elpidio, they entered a 14.4-kilometre (8.9-mile) finishing circuit.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
They first rode the final 8 kilometres (5.0 miles) of the circuit and crossed the finish line; this was the final intermediate sprint of the day. They then completed two complete laps of the circuit, where the final 1.6 kilometres (0.99 miles) were entirely straight. The stage took place in rainy conditions.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
An early breakaway formed at 15 kilometres (9.3 miles), involving Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar), Stijn Devolder (Trek Factory Racing) and Alessandro Vanotti (Astana). They were caught, however, on the climb at Montelparo, as Tinkoff–Saxo increased the pace in the peloton. Their team leader, Alberto Contador, was one of the riders to set the pace on behalf of Peter Sagan. On this climb, several of the race's main sprinters were unable to stay with the peloton. These included Mark Cavendish (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Luka Mezgec (Team Giant–Alpecin). The breakaway's advantage had been reduced to 1' 30" and, soon after the summit of the climb, Devolder sat up and was caught. Arashiro and Vanotti were caught soon after, with 50 kilometres (31 miles) still to race.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
Vanotti, however, attacked again and built a 40-second gap to the peloton, which was still led by Tinkoff–Saxo. He was joined in the lead by Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R La Mondiale). The two riders rode together until there were 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) remaining, when Vuillermoz attacked. Tinkoff–Saxo were joined by Lotto–Soudal at the front of the pack and Vuillermoz was caught with 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) remaining. Throughout this time, the group containing the main sprinters in the race had been unable to reduce the advantage, which was 4 minutes with 30 kilometres (19 miles) to race. Cavendish, along with his entire sprint train, pulled out of the race as they crossed the finish line for the first time in order to rest ahead of Milan–San Remo the following weekend.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 6
As the main peloton approached the finish line, it was led by MTN–Qhubeka, who still had several riders in the main pack. Tinkoff–Saxo had no riders left to support Sagan. He therefore positioned himself behind the final MTN–Qhubeka rider, Gerald Ciolek, who was being led out by Edvald Boasson Hagen. Sagan passed Ciolek in the final 150 metres (490 ft) win the stage. Ciolek finished second, with Jens Debusschere (Lotto–Soudal) in third. This was Sagan's first win in nine months, when he won a stage of the 2014 Tour de Suisse. All the general classification riders finished in the main group, so the standings were unchanged.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
The seventh and final stage of the 2015 Tirreno–Adriatico was another individual time trial. This stage was 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) in length and took place entirely in the resort of San Benedetto del Tronto on the Adriatic seafront. The course was an out-and-back route; it first headed south, through an intermediate time check after 4.7 kilometres (2.9 miles), to a pair of 90-degree right hand turns halfway through the course. The course then headed north on almost entirely straight roads. The stage was flat throughout with no significant climbs.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
The early lead was taken by Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff–Saxo), who set a time of 11' 39". His time was soon beaten, however, by Adriano Malori (Movistar Team), the winner of stage 1 and the Italian national time trial champion, with a time of 11' 27". Although Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) came close, he was five seconds behind at the finish. Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), who had come second to Malori on stage 1, set off as Malori was finishing.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
Cancellara was a second off Malori's time at the intermediate checkpoint, but he was five seconds quicker over the second part of the course and took the stage lead by four seconds. Cancellara's time would not be beaten by any of the remaining riders and he won the stage, with Malori in second and Kiryienka in third.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
Though the general classification riders did not have a chance of victory on the stage, there were still positions to be won and lost. The best time from the general classification riders was that of Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo), 31 seconds behind Cancellara, and he stayed in fifth place overall. Wout Poels (Team Sky), Steve Cummings (MTN–Qhubeka) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) all put in good times, with Poels and Cummings moving up in the top ten and Pinot defending his fourth place ahead of Contador.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Stages, Stage 7
Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) also put in a strong ride, finishing ahead of Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step), who was seen as the better time triallist of the two. Mollema therefore defended his second place overall. He was not, however, able to catch the race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team). Quintana finished 55" behind Cancellara in 55th place; he took the overall race victory ahead of Mollema by 18". Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), the leader of the points competition, only had to finish the stage within the time limit to win the classification. He came very close to failing: he was the slowest rider in the stage, finishing 2' 59" behind Cancellara. It was, however, just enough to prevent his exclusion and to allow him the classification victory.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
There were four main classifications in the 2015 Tirreno–Adriatico. The first and most important of these was the general classification. This was calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage. Time bonuses were awarded to the first three finishers on road stages (stages 2–6): the stage winner won a ten-second bonus, with six and four seconds for the second and third riders respectively.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
Bonus seconds were also awarded to the first three riders at intermediate sprints (three seconds for the winner of the sprint, two seconds for the rider in second and one second for the rider in third. The leader of the general classification received a blue jersey and the winner of the classification was considered the overall winner of the race.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
The second classification was the points classification. On each stage of the race, points were awarded to the top 10 riders. The winner won 12 points, with 10 for the second-placed rider, 8 for the third-placed rider and then one point fewer for each place down to tenth place. Points were also awarded to the top four riders at intermediate sprints, with five points for the winner of the sprint and three, two and one points for the riders in second, third and fourth places respectively.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
It was originally intended that points would not be awarded on stage 1 as it was a team time trial. After this was changed to an individual time trial, however, points were awarded on the stage, on the same scale as for an intermediate sprint. The winner of the points classification was awarded a red jersey.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
The third classification was the mountains classification. On each of the road stages there were classified climbs on the route. The first riders to the top of the climb were awarded points in the mountains classification. For most of the climbs, the first four riders won points, with five, three, two and one points respectively. More points were awarded for the two most difficult climbs of the race. These were the summit finish to Monte Terminillo on stage 5 and the Poggio San Romualdo on stage 4. On these climbs, the winner won 15 points in the classification, with the next six riders also winning points. The rider with the most points was awarded the green jersey.


2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Classification leadership table
The final classification was the young riders classification. This was based on the general classification: the highest placed rider born after 1 January 1990 was the leader of the classification and was awarded a white jersey.


2015 Togolese presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Togo on 25 April 2015. Initially scheduled for 15 April 2015, the election was postponed by ten days at the recommendation of John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana and acting chair of the ECOWAS organization. Incumbent President Faure Gnassingbé was seeking a third term and was opposed by four other candidates, including the main opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre of the National Alliance for Change. Provisional results by the National Independent Election Commission declared Gnassingbé the winner with about 59% of the vote, whilst Fabre received 35%. Fabre called the results a "crime against national sovereignty", saying he considered himself the new president.


2015 Togolese presidential election, Conduct
The United Nations, African Union, ECOWAS and the National Consultation of Civil Society (a Togolese NGO funded by the European Union) felt the elections were free and transparent.


2015 Togolese presidential election, Results
On the evening of 28 April 2015, Issifou Tabiou Taffa, the head of the Election Commission (CENI), appeared on National Television (TVT) to proclaim the provisional results. As he started answering introductory questions from the anchor, Pedro Amunzu, a member of the ANC and vice president of CENI, attempted to disrupt the process. The producer quickly swapped the scene with a different anchor. About an hour later, Tabiou reappeared, proclaiming Gnassingbé the winner with 58.75% of the vote, his main opponent Fabre picking up 34.95%. On 29 April, Fabre rejected the official result.


2015 Togolese presidential election, Results
On 1 May 2015, Patrick Lawson-Banku, Fabre's communication director, released a statement to the press in which he claimed Fabre had received 641,765 votes to 539,764 for Gnassingbé or 52.20% to 43.90%. These results, according to Lawson, accounted for about 60% of polling centers and 63% of registered voters. The remaining 40% of polling centers were from 16 prefectures located largely in the northern part of the country, considered the incumbent's stronghold. Fabre's party claimed the results from those 16 prefectures (Bassar, Bimah (prefecture), Blitta, Cinkassé, Kpendjal, Tône, Tandjouaré, Keran, Dankpen, Oti, Sotouboua, Tchamba, Yoto, Wawa,  Amou, Kozah) were fraudulent and ought to be invalidated.


2015 Togolese presidential election, Aftermath
On 3 May the Constitutional Court validated the official results produced by CENI and proclaimed Gnassingbé president for the next five years. Fabre refused to file appeals to the Court, arguing that the institution was subservient to the ruling party. Gnassingbé was sworn in for his third term on 4 May 2015.


2015 Tokyo Marathon
The 2015 Tokyo Marathon (Japanese: 東京マラソン 2015) was the ninth edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo, Japan and was held on Sunday, 22 February. An IAAF Gold Label Road Race, it was the first World Marathon Majors event to be held that year and represented the third occasion that the Tokyo race was part of the elite-level marathon series.


2015 Tokyo Marathon
The elite race winners were both from Ethiopia – the first such time that athletes from the same nation won the men's and women's division. Endeshaw Negesse was just over twenty seconds off the course record with 2:06:00 hours while Berhane Dibaba took the women's title in 2:23:15. It was the first major marathon win for both athletes, although Berhane Dibaba had been runner-up in Tokyo the previous year. The reigning Olympic and world champion Stephen Kiprotich was runner-up in the men's race and Dickson Chumba was third, failing to defend his title.


2015 Tokyo Marathon
The women's podium was rounded out by Helah Kiprop (2014 winner of the Seoul International Marathon) and reigning Olympic champion Tiki Gelana. The 2014 women's champion, Tirfi Tsegaye did not return to defend her title. The fastest home athletes both finished in seventh position overall: Masato Imai in the men's and Madoka Ogi in the women's division.


2015 Tokyo Marathon
As in the previous year, the wheelchair race was principally a national affair. Wakako Tsuchida defended her title while Kota Hokinoue—winner at the 2014 Berlin Marathon—won the men's wheelchair race for the first time.


2015 Tokyo drone incident
In the 2015 Tokyo drone incident (首相官邸無人機落下事件, susyoukandemujinkirakkajiken), a Phantom 2 drone carrying traces of radiation was found on the roof of the Japanese Prime Minister's Official Residence. It had been controlled by Yasuo Yamamoto, an anti-nuclear protester from Fukui Prefecture. Yamamoto flew the drone there carrying sand containing cesium from Fukushima prefecture on April 9, but the drone was not discovered until April 22.


2015 Tokyo drone incident
This caused substantial embarrassment to the authorities, both for the security breach and for the delayed discovery of the drone. Yamamoto was later given a two-year suspended sentence, and the incident led to wide-reaching changes to regulations on drones in Japan. This along with other incidents led to authorities in Japan becoming much more aware of issues related to drones.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Yasuo Yamamoto
Yasuo Yamamoto was an unemployed 40-year-old man from Fukui prefecture and former Japan Air Self-Defense Force enlistee, residing in Obama, Fukui. Fukui prefecture is home to 13 of Japan's 48 operational nuclear reactors, and in 2014 the reactivation of Japan's nuclear reactors, idled after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a serious topic of debate.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Yasuo Yamamoto
In July 2014 Yamamoto started a blog, which he called "Santa Kantei" (Santa at the Prime Minister's office). He referred to himself in one blog post as "a lone wolf" and in another post said “I will not hesitate to commit a terror act to stop restart (of nuclear reactors)”. In October 2014 he used a drone to observe the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kagoshima prefecture, which was then due to be restarted.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Yasuo Yamamoto
In October 2014 he went to Fukushima to gather contaminated sand. Yamamoto considered various methods to draw attention to his cause, and considered landing a drone with the Fukushima sand at a US diplomatic housing facility. On December 24, when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's new cabinet was launched, he had intended to do his flight to the PM's office from a nearby park, but did not do so as it was too stressful. In March 2015 he again visited Fukushima prefecture to gather contaminated sand.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Drone flight
On April 7, 2015 Yamamoto left his home and travelled to Tokyo with his DJI Phantom 2 drone. The drones are sold only in white, but Yamamoto had painted his black, had painted over LEDs on it in black, and placed a radiation symbol sticker on it. On the following day he wished to fly his drone but the weather was poor, so he delayed it until the next day. On April 9 at 3:30am he flew the drone from a parking lot located near the Prime Minister's office. He had planned to land it in front of the Prime Minister's office, but he lost control of it and it landed on the roof of the Prime Minister's office, which functions as a helipad.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Drone flight
After losing control of the drone Yamamoto returned to Fukui and posted on his blog about how there were no reports about his drone. On April 18 he showed a picture of himself preparing a second drone.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Drone flight, Discovery
The drone was found by accident on April 22 by an official who was taking new employees on a tour of the building.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Arrest and trial
After the drone was eventually found, Yamamoto turned himself in to the police on April 24 at the Obama police station and was arrested. The following day he was transported to Tokyo.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Arrest and trial
On February 16, 2016 the Tokyo District Court handed down a two-year sentence, suspended for four years and ordered the drone confiscated. Prosecutors had asked for a three-year jail sentence.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Aftereffects, Changes to law
Before the incident drones were only prohibited near airports or in the flightpath of planes. The National Diet passed a law restricting drone flights near special sites such as the Prime Minister's office, Imperial Palace, Supreme Court and nuclear reactors. Violators would face a prison sentence of a year or a ¥500,000 fine. Paragliders would also be covered by the law.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Aftereffects, Changes to law
In December 2015 changes to the Civil Aeronautics Law were passed through Japan's National Diet banned flights by drones weighing over 200 grams in crowded urban areas, altitudes of 150 meters or more, and near airports. Among other places, this meant that drones were banned in all of 23 central wards of Tokyo, although the Ministry of Transport can grant case by case exceptions.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Aftereffects, Police countermeasures
After the incident Tokyo police investigated various options for counter-drone measures, and Japan's National Police Agency requested ¥400 million yen for anti-drone countermeasures. It planned to procure radar, cameras, and nets designed to capture drones.


2015 Tokyo drone incident, Aftereffects, Police countermeasures
The police planned to launch a drone interceptor squad, and by January 2016 the Tokyo police riot squad had acquired an interceptor drone to capture suspicious drones, and it was announced that they planned to acquire another 10 by February 2016. The 2016 Tokyo Marathon was the first event at which the police planned to use drones as part of the event's security, with several interceptor drones deployed.


2015 Toledo Rockets football team
The 2015 Toledo Rockets football team represented the University of Toledo in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by head coach Matt Campbell in his fourth year. They played their home games at the Glass Bowl and were members of the West Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 10–2, 6–2 in MAC play to finish in a four way tie for the West Division title. However, due to losses to Western Michigan and Northern Illinois, two other teams to finish 6–2 in the West Division, they did not represent the West Division in the MAC Championship Game. They were invited to the Boca Raton Bowl where they defeated #24 Temple.


2015 Toledo Rockets football team
On November 29, head coach Matt Campbell resigned to become the head coach at Iowa State. On December 2, offensive coordinator Jason Candle was promoted to head coach and led the Rockets in their bowl game.


2015 Toledo Rockets football team, Victory over an SEC team
On September 12, 2015, the Rockets defeated the 18th-ranked team, the Arkansas Razorbacks at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas It was Toledo's first win over an SEC team in four tries and the first time the Rockets defeated a Top 25 non-conference opponent on the road.


2015 Toledo Rockets football team, Victory over an SEC team
Senior quarterback Phillip Ely threw for 237 yards and Toledo's defense shut down Arkansas in the red zone as the Rockets upset the No. 18 Razorbacks, 16-12 in front of a stunned crowd of nearly 50,000. The Rockets held Arkansas to just 103 yards rushing on 31 attempts. Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen did throw for 412 yards but the Razorbacks came away with just three points in four visits in the red zone in the second half. The outcome of the contest was not decided until the final play. With just one second remaining, Allen fired a pass from the 16-yard line into the end zone to Keon Hatcher that sailed over his head, igniting a celebration on the Toledo sideline.


2015 Toledo Rockets football team, Victory over an SEC team
It was the first win of what became a seven-game winning streak for the Rockets.


2015 Toledo, Ohio mayoral special election
The 2015 Toledo mayoral special election was held on November 3, 2015 to determine the mayor of Toledo, Ohio and to finish the term of former mayor D. Michael Collins who died in office.


2015 Toledo, Ohio mayoral special election
Incumbent acting mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson was elected mayor with 35.63% of the vote.


2015 Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council election
The 2015 Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council election took place on 7 May 2015 to elect members of the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council in England. It was held on the same day as other local elections.


2015 Tonga Major League
The 2015 season of the Tonga Major League was the 36th season of top flight association football competition in Tonga. Veitongo FC won the championship for the third time, and first since the 1978 championship. The competitions consisted of 6 teams (only Veitongo, Kolomotu'a and Marist Prems are known) and the season start was delayed from March 21 due to 'bad weather'.


2015 Toppserien
The 2015 Toppserien is the twenty-nine season of top-tier women's football in Norway since its establishment in 1987. A total of 12 teams contested for the league, eleven returning from the 2014 season and the one teams promoted from the First Division, Sandviken.


2015 Toppserien
The season started on 28 March 2015 and ended on 7 November 2015.


2015 Toppserien, Relegation play-offs
Medkila won the relegation-playoff 3–0 and 5–0 against Grand Bodø and remained in the league.


2015 Topshelf Open
The 2015 Topshelf Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 26th edition of the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, and was part of the 250 Series of the 2015 ATP World Tour, and of the WTA International tournaments of the 2015 WTA Tour. Both the men's and the women's events took place at the Autotron park in Rosmalen, 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, from June 8 through June 14, 2015.


2015 Topshelf Open, ATP doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2015 Topshelf Open, WTA doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2015 Topshelf Open – Men's Doubles
Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecău were the defending champions, but lost in the semifinals to Ivo Karlović and Łukasz Kubot. Karlović and Kubot went on to win the title, defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the final, 6–2, 7–6(11–9).


2015 Topshelf Open – Men's Singles
Roberto Bautista Agut was the defending champion, but lost in the second round to Nicolas Mahut.