2015 Tour of Norway
The 2015 Tour of Norway was the fifth edition of the Tour of Norway cycle stage race. It was a part of the 2015 UCI Europe Tour as a 2.HC event.


2015 Tour of Norway, Teams
21 teams were selected to take place in the 2015 Tour of Norway. Six of these were UCI WorldTeams, eight were UCI Professional Continental teams, and seven were UCI Continental teams.


2015 Tour of Norway, Classification leadership
In the 2015 Tour of Norway, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses (10, 6 and 4 seconds respectively) for the first three finishers on mass-start stages, the leader received a yellow jersey. Additionally, there were a points classification, awarding a green jersey, and mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a polka dot jersey. The fourth jersey represents the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only young riders were eligible. There was also classification for teams.


2015 Tour of Oman
The 2015 Tour of Oman was the sixth edition of the Tour of Oman cycling stage race. It was rated as a 2.HC event on the 2015 UCI Asia Tour, and was held from 17 to 22 February 2015, in Oman. The race was organised by the municipality of Muscat, in collaboration with ASO (the organisers of the Tour de France) and Paumer. Chris Froome, the defending champion from 2013 and 2014, was not present to defend his title.


2015 Tour of Oman
The decisive stage in this as in past editions was the climb of Jebel Akhdar. That stage was won by Rafael Valls of Lampre–Merida, who went on to defend his overall race lead to the finish in Muscat. This was aided by the controversial events of stage 5, which was eventually abandoned due to extreme weather conditions. Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) finished second (as he had in 2014) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) finished third.


2015 Tour of Oman
The points competition was won by Andrea Guardini (Astana), who won the first stage of the race. Louis Meintjes (MTN–Qhubeka) was the best young rider, while Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise) won the combativity prize after participating in the breakaway on every stage of the race. BMC Racing Team was the winner of the teams classification.


2015 Tour of Oman, Teams
18 teams were selected to take part in the event, including 12 UCI WorldTeams.


2015 Tour of Oman, Pre-race favourites
The Tour of Oman was the third of a trio of stage races in the Middle East that come early in the road cycling season, following the Dubai Tour and the Tour of Qatar, in 2015 won by Mark Cavendish and Niki Terpstra respectively. The distinctive feature of the Tour of Oman was the annual inclusion of the climb of Jebel Akhdar, the Green Mountain, which meant the general classification was generally won by climbing specialists. Many Grand Tour contenders started their seasons racing in Oman for this reason.


2015 Tour of Oman, Pre-race favourites
In 2013 and 2014, the race was won by Chris Froome (Team Sky) as the beginning of his preparation for the Tour de France. In 2015, however, Froome opted to begin his season at the Vuelta a Andalucía and so missed the Tour of Oman. The race was therefore expected to be contested between other Grand Tour riders, such as Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo), Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Leopold König (Team Sky).


2015 Tour of Oman, Pre-race favourites
Although the general classification was expected to be contested by climbers, many riders rode the Tour of Oman with other aims. Spring classics riders used the race as a last block of racing before the European classics season started with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, while sprinters aimed to win stages. Notable sprinters at the 2015 race included Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha), who won three stages in the 2014 Tour of Qatar, Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo). Stages 1, 3 and 6 were predicted to be suited for the pure sprinters, while stages 2 and 5 were expected to suit riders who could cope with some climbing.


2015 Tour of Oman, Route
The 2015 event was scheduled to have six stages, including four flat stages, one medium-mountain stage and one mountain stage.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 1
The first stage was a 161-kilometre (100-mile) route from Bayt al Naman Castle to Wutayyah on the outskirts of Muscat. It was a fairly flat course, with an uphill finish. Temperatures exceeded 30 °C (86 °F).


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 1
The early breakaway was formed by Johann van Zyl (MTN–Qhubeka), Patrick Konrad (Bora–Argon 18), Simone Andreetta (Bardiani–CSF) and Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), who built a lead of up to five minutes. The chasing peloton was led for most of the day by Team Katusha, in support of their leader Alexander Kristoff, for whom the uphill finish was ideal. Movistar Team and Trek Factory Racing aided in the chase.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 1
Van Zyl put in an attack with 85 kilometres (53 miles) remaining, leaving his breakaway companions behind. This group was soon caught by the peloton after Konrad suffered a puncture; van Zyl was caught with 32 kilometres (20 miles) remaining. Team Katusha continued to lead the peloton until the final kilometres. At this point, Etixx–Quick-Step led out the sprint in support of Tom Boonen. However, they misjudged the difficulty towards the finish line: there was a 2–3% incline and a headwind.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 1
This caused the team to mistime the sprint: Boonen's lead-out man Matteo Trentin was only able to support him until there were 200 metres (660 feet) remaining. Andrea Guardini (Astana) was supported by his teammate Borut Božič and was then able to follow Boonen and come past him in the final 50 metres (160 feet) to take his first victory of 2015. Matteo Pelucchi (Lampre–Merida) took third place.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 1
Guardini therefore took the red jersey of overall leader. Van Zyl, Konrad and Andreetta all finished on the same time as Guardini and so moved into the top ten thanks to bonus seconds won at intermediate sprints.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 2
Stage 2 was the longest of the race, covering a 195-kilometre (121-mile) route from Al Hazm Castle to Al-Bustan. It was classified as a flat stage, but there were two notable climbs within the last 25 kilometres (16 miles), presenting the opportunity for riders to attack close to the finish.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 2
The early breakaway was formed by Gatis Smukulis (Team Katusha), Preben Van Hecke, Jef Van Meirhaeghe (both Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), and Enrico Barbin (Bardiani–CSF). The chase was led by Astana, defending the red jersey of Andrea Guardini. After about 50 kilometres (31 miles), Barbin suffered a puncture; he was dropped by the remaining three riders and was then caught by the peloton. As the stage progressed, Tinkoff–Saxo took control of the peloton in support of Peter Sagan. Their strong pace meant that the main group was soon catching the breakaway, but the peloton itself began to split, with riders including Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN–Qhubeka) and Arnaud Démare (FDJ) among the riders temporarily distanced from the front of the race.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 2
The breakaway had a two-minute lead with 25 kilometres (16 miles) remaining, as they approached the climbs at the end of the stage. Smukulis attacked on the first climb, Al Hamriyah, and had a 30-second lead at the summit, with the peloton a little over a minute behind. Guardini was among the riders who were dropped from the peloton, with Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) also in difficulty. Smukulis was caught soon afterwards, with 16.5 kilometres (10 miles) remaining, under continued impetus from Tinkoff–Saxo.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 2
On the second climb, Al Jissah, there was an attack from Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Ben Hermans (BMC Racing Team), Julián Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing), and Louis Meintjes (MTN–Qhubeka). Pinot, Rodríguez and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) were all dropped by the peloton, now reduced to a small group. This group, made up of 14 riders, was able to catch the breakaway soon after the climb. Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team), Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) all made attacks in the final 5 kilometres (3 miles), but were unable to stay away and the race came down to a sprint.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 2
The Movistar Team did much of the pace-setting in support of Valverde, before BMC Racing Team attempted to set up Greg Van Avermaet for the uphill sprint at the finish. Despite these efforts, Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) was able to sprint to victory. Valverde was second, with Van Avermaet in third place. This victory meant that Cancellara took over the lead of both the general classification and the points competition. It was his first race victory since the 2014 Tour of Flanders the previous spring.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 3
Stage 3 was a 158.5-kilometre (98-mile) route that started and ended at Al-Musannah Sports City. The route was mostly flat with no significant climbs and the roads at the finish were wide and straight, so the stage was likely to end in a bunch sprint.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 3
Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise) was again in the breakaway, along with his teammate Preben Van Hecke and Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani–CSF). Initially there was a lack of agreement in the peloton about who should lead the chase. Trek Factory Racing were supporting race leader Fabian Cancellara, but they wanted the sprinters' teams to support the chase. The breakaway was therefore allowed a lead that reached nine minutes, but eventually agreement between the chasing teams brought control and the lead was reduced to six minutes. The breakaway was eventually caught with 15 kilometres (9 miles) remaining.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 3
In the final 10 kilometres (6 miles) many teams, including Astana, Movistar Team, MTN–Qhubeka and Tinkoff–Saxo, sought to lead out their sprinters. In the confusion, Matteo Trentin (Etixx–Quick-Step) crashed and was forced to abandon the race. Team Katusha moved up in the final 5 kilometres (3 miles) in support of Alexander Kristoff. Kristoff's lead out train was strong and positioned him well for the final sprint.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 3
In the finishing straight, there was a significant headwind, and, when Danny van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing) opened his sprint too early, Kristoff was able to follow him and come round to take his fourth victory of the season, just ahead of Andrea Guardini (Astana). Cancellara retained his overall lead in the race.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 4
Stage 4 was the queen stage of the race, with a summit finish at the climb of Jebel Akhdar (the Green Mountain). The stage was a 189-kilometre (117-mile) route from the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque to Jebel Akhdar. There were no significant climbs in the route until the final 5.7 kilometres (4 miles), which had an average gradient of 10.5%.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 4
An early breakaway was formed of Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise) (the leader of the combativity award and in the breakaway for the fourth consecutive stage), his teammate Gijs Van Hoecke, Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx–Quick-Step) and points classification leader Andrea Guardini (Astana). Guardini and Van Meirhaeghe contested the intermediate sprint after 18.5 kilometres (11 miles), taking points for their respective classifications, then sat up and were caught by the peloton. Vandenbergh and Van Hoecke were allowed to build a lead of nearly 15 minutes, before the peloton increased its speed. The breakaway was caught with less than 10 kilometres (10 miles) to go.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 4
BMC Racing Team led the peloton hard into the early slopes of Jebel Akhdar. This caused many riders, including race leader Fabian Cancellara, to be dropped, and a group of 20 riders formed. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) put in two attacks, causing the group to be reduced further, in support of Jakob Fuglsang. More riders, including Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) were dropped, leaving a group of three riders in the lead with 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) to go: Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo), Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) and Rafael Valls (Lampre–Merida).


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 4
Majka was unable to follow van Garderen's attacks, but Valls was able to stay in his wheel. Valls was then able to put in his own attack and pass van Garderen in the final part of the stage, going on to win by five seconds. It was his first victory in five years and gave him a 19-second lead in the overall standings. Van Garderen was frustrated after the stage, having also finished second on the same stage in 2014, behind Chris Froome. He said afterwards that he had "underestimated" Valls, who had not been considered among the favourites for stage victory. Louis Meintjes (MTN–Qhubeka) was eighth on the stage and moved into the white jersey as the best young rider.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 5
Stage 5 was scheduled to be a 151.5-kilometre (94-mile) route, beginning at Al Sawadi Beach. The planned route then went along the coast and included four laps of a circuit before finishing at the Ministry of Housing. Each lap of the circuit included the climb of Bousher al Amerat, a difficult climb. Equivalent stages in the 2013 and 2014 editions had been highly selective, and the stage was considered an opportunity for Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) to attempt to attack race leader Rafael Valls (Lampre–Merida).


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 5
Extreme weather conditions, however, made the stage impossible. There was a dust storm at the starting point on Al Sawadi Beach, so the decision was taken to transport the riders to the finishing circuit, shortening the stage to 95 kilometres (59 miles). When the riders arrived at the finishing circuit, however, they were now faced with very high temperatures, approximately 41 °C (106 °F). They started racing, but found themselves with problems due to the extreme heat.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 5
Several riders suffered punctures, especially during the fast descents, and problems with their brakes and the riders took the decision to neutralise the stage and took shelter under a bridge. The race organisers, led by race director Eddy Merckx, tried to persuade the riders to carry on, and at one point it was suggested that the cancellation of the stage could mean the end of the Tour of Oman altogether. It was eventually agreed, however, that the riders would take a short flat route to the stage finish.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 5
With the stage abandoned, the standings in all the classifications remained unchanged.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 6
Stage 6 was a 133.5-kilometre (83.0-mile) route starting at the headquarters of Oman Air on the edge of Muscat International Airport. The route first followed the coast west, before turning inland and heading east. The race crossed two classified climbs on the edge of Muscat, before finishing on the corniche at Muttrah with three laps of a finishing circuit. The weather conditions were much more suitable for racing, with grey skies and the temperature approximately 20 °C (68 °F) lower than the previous day.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 6
The first riders to break away, were Iljo Keisse (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise). Van Meirhaeghe was in the breakaway for the fifth time in the race: he had participated in the breakaway on every stage except the aborted stage 5. After his efforts earlier in the week, he struggled initially to stay with Keisse. The pair were joined, however, by Danny Pate (Team Sky) and Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling), and Van Meirhaeghe was able to stay with the group.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 6
Jelle Wallays, Van Meirhaeghe's team mate, attempted to bridge across to the leading riders, but he was not able to make it across in the crosswinds and was caught by the main peloton. Lampre–Merida were happy to allow the breakaway a large lead as none of the riders posed any threat to Rafael Valls in the general classification, and they had a nine-minute lead with approximately 65 kilometres (40 miles) remaining.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 6
The sprinters' teams attempted to chase the breakaway down. Principally this was led by Cofidis, who were hoping to set up Nacer Bouhanni for the stage win. However, the hills close to the finish made this difficult, as the breakaway were able to maintain their advantage on the technical descents. Andrea Guardini (Astana) was dropped on the last of these climbs. In the leading group, Pate made the first attack on the unclassified climb on the finishing circuit, but Brändle covered the move and passed him.


2015 Tour of Oman, Stages, Stage 6
Brändle was then able to hold off the chase of Keisse – the faster sprinter – and finished the stage with a four-second advantage. Van Meirhaeghe finished third with Pate fourth. In the peloton, Peter Sagan won the bunch sprint, over a minute behind Brändle. Rafael Valls was therefore able to secure the overall win, nine seconds ahead of Van Garderen, to take the first professional stage race win of his career.


2015 Tour of Oman, Classification leadership
There were five principal classifications in the 2015 Tour of Oman.


2015 Tour of Oman, Classification leadership
The first and most important was the general classification; the winner of this was considered the overall winner of the race. It was calculated by adding together each rider's times on each stage, then applying bonuses. Bonuses were awarded for coming in the top three on a stage (10 seconds for the winner, 6 seconds for the second placed rider and 4 seconds for the rider in third) or at intermediate sprints (3 seconds, 2 seconds and 1 second for the top three riders). The rider in the lead of the general classification wore a red jersey.


2015 Tour of Oman, Classification leadership
The second competition was the points classification. This was calculated by awarding points for the top 10 riders at the finish of each stage (15 points to the winner down to 1 point for the rider in tenth place) and to the top three at intermediate sprints (3 points, 2 points and 1 point). The rider with the highest points total was the leader of the classification and wore a green jersey.


2015 Tour of Oman, Classification leadership
The young rider classification was open to those born on or after 1 January 1990. The young rider ranked highest in the general classification was the leader of the young rider classification and wore a white jersey.


2015 Tour of Oman, Classification leadership
The combativity classification was based on points won at intermediate sprints and classified climbs along the route. Points were awarded to the top three riders across each sprint or climb (3 points, 2 points and 1 point). The rider with the most accumulated points was the leader of the classification and wore a white jersey with red and green sections.


2015 Tour of Oman, Classification leadership
The final competition was the team classification. On each stage, each team was awarded a time based on the cumulative time of its top three riders. The times for each stage were then added together and the team with the lowest total time was the leader of the team classification.


2015 Tour of Oman, Controversy over stage 5
The 2015 race included one significant controversy: the conditions on stage 5 that led to the stage's cancellation. After a sandstorm had caused the start of the race to be relocated, very high temperatures (somewhere between 38 °C (100 °F) and 49 °C (120 °F)) caused several riders' tyres to puncture. This was especially the case on the neutralised descents, as the slow speeds and consequent frequent braking led to higher tyre temperatures and more punctures. Many riders had concerns for their safety on the descents, and a rider protest brought the race to a halt.


2015 Tour of Oman, Controversy over stage 5
Riders engaged in a lengthy discussion with the race organisers, who were represented by Eddy Merckx, considered one of the greatest cyclists ever, who was part-owner of the race. The Omani organisers, led by Salim bin Mubarak Al Hassani, put pressure on the riders to continue racing, but they refused to do so. The riders were led by Tom Boonen (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), who cited the danger of continuing to race in the conditions, suggesting that their lives were at risk. The stage was eventually neutralised and the riders returned to the finish line by a flat route.


2015 Tour of Oman, Controversy over stage 5
After the race, Merckx publicly dismissed the riders' complaints. In particular, he made comparisons with the dangers that are accepted by the riders, such as those faced when riding Paris–Roubaix or descending on wet days in the Tour de France. Merckx also said that he was worried about the future of the race, as the local organisers were angry at the cancellation of the stage and had wanted to cancel stage 6 as well. He was also concerned about the renewal of the contract to run the Tour of Oman, after it expired in 2016.


2015 Tour of Oman, Controversy over stage 5
Before the final stage – which did go ahead – he had agreed with the local authorities that the race would continue in 2016. It was suggested, however, that the local organisers may refuse to invite certain teams back to future editions of the race. These teams possibly included Etixx–Quick-Step and Trek Factory Racing since their riders were central to the rider protest.


2015 Tour of Qatar
The 2015 Tour of Qatar was the 14th edition of the Tour of Qatar cycling stage race. It was organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organisers of the Tour de France. The race was rated as a 2.HC event, the second highest rating an event can receive, and was part of the 2015 UCI Asia Tour.


2015 Tour of Qatar
The 2015 race consisted of six stages. It started in Dukhan on 8 February 2015 and finished on 13 February in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. The Tour of Qatar puts unusual demands on riders: it has no significant climbs, but almost every stage is affected by strong crosswinds. These conditions make the race ideal preparation for the spring classics season, so many prominent classics riders were present. The flat stages, suitable for sprinters, and individual time trial meant that specialists in these disciplines also chose to ride in Qatar.


2015 Tour of Qatar
The race was won by Dutch rider Niki Terpstra of Etixx–Quick-Step. It was the second successive year that Terpstra won the race after his victory in 2014; it was the fourth successive victory for Etixx–Quick-Step and eighth overall in Qatar. Terpstra took the lead of the race with victory in the third stage of the race, the individual time trial, and held the lead of the race to the finish. Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff–Saxo) took second place, six seconds behind Terpstra; Alexander Kristoff won stages 2, 4 and 5 on the way to finishing third, nine seconds off the overall lead.


2015 Tour of Qatar
In the race's other classifications, Kristoff won the silver jersey of the points classification, thanks to his three stage wins. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo) was the winner of the pearl white jersey of the young rider classification as he was the highest placed rider born after 1 January 1990. The team classification was won by Etixx–Quick-Step.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Preview
The Tour of Qatar was one of the early races in the season, coming in the middle of three races in the Middle East (alongside the Dubai Tour and the Tour of Oman) that saw high levels of participation from the top European teams. The race was particularly popular as a preparation race for riders aiming for the spring classics. The significant challenge in the Tour of Qatar was the strong winds across the desert, which frequently caused the peloton to split into echelons. As well as attracting the top classics riders, the flat nature of the course meant many stages could be won by sprinters; the individual time trial also attracted many of the time trial specialists, who had a chance of overall victory.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Preview
Etixx–Quick-Step had dominated the race since it began. This included winning the last three editions (with Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish and Niki Terpstra). Boonen had won the overall race on four previous occasions, as well as winning 22 stages. Boonen and Terpstra were both among the favourites for the overall victory, along with world time-trial champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).


2015 Tour of Qatar, Preview
Marcel Kittel (Team Giant–Alpecin) was the most prominent sprinter to travel to Qatar, alongside Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha), and several others.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Teams
18 teams were selected to take part in the event, including 13 UCI WorldTeams. Each team was permitted to include between five and eight riders. 15 teams had the full allowance of eight riders; 3 teams had seven-man teams. The race therefore began with 141 riders. 9 of these withdrew during the course of the event; 132 finished the final stage.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Route
The 2015 event had a very similar format to the previous year's race. It consisted of six stages, of which five were flat stages and one was an individual time trial. The individual time trial, on the third day of racing, used precisely the same course as the corresponding stage in 2014.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 1
The race began with a 136 km (85 mi) route from Dukhan in the west of Qatar to the Sealine Beach Resort, Mesaieed. The route was flat and, as normal in the Tour of Qatar, the principal difficulty was caused by crosswinds.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 1
The initial breakaway was formed early in the race by Luca Sterbini (Bardiani–CSF) and Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise). They built a lead that reached seven minutes by the half-way point. Midway through the stage, a change in direction meant the peloton was now racing in crosswinds, and Etixx–Quick-Step along with Trek Factory Racing attacked. They formed echelons and split the peloton. Riders such as Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) were left adrift from the front group, but another turn into a headwind meant the groups could come back together.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 1
Shortly before the second intermediate sprint, Tom Boonen (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo) were involved in a crash, but were both able to remount and rejoin the peloton. After Nikias Arndt (Team Giant–Alpecin) won that sprint, Greg Van Avermaet made a short-lived attack before a more determined effort from Lars Boom and Lieuwe Westra (both Astana) and Matti Breschel (Tinkoff–Saxo). Though they achieved a lead of nearly a minute, the attack was ultimately unsuccessful, due to crosswinds and a combination of Etixx–Quick-Step, Trek Factory Racing and Bora–Argon 18 riding at a high tempo.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 1
In the final 10 km (6 mi), the peloton split again. The main field was reduced to 51 riders, with Marcel Kittel (Team Giant–Alpecin), Wiggins, Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN–Qhubeka), Luca Paolini (Team Katusha) and Filippo Pozzato (Lampre–Merida) among the notable riders to lose time.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 1
In the final kilometre, José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar Team) attached himself to the back of the Etixx–Quick-Step leadout train. He opened his sprint with 300 m (1,000 ft) remaining, taking other riders by surprise, and was able to hold them off and take the victory. This was Rojas' first victory since the 2014 Vuelta a Castilla y León. Boonen finished second in the sprint, with Arnaud Démare (FDJ) third.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 2
The second stage took the riders 187.5 km (117 mi) from Al Wakrah, south of Doha, to Al Khor Corniche.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 2
Early in the stage, Etixx–Quick-Step launched an attack, quickly splitting the pack in crosswinds to create a lead group of 30 riders. Riders left behind included the race leader, José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar Team), Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), Marcel Kittel (Team Giant–Alpecin) and Lars Boom (Astana). The lead group, however, failed to establish a lead of more than half a minute and work from BMC Racing Team and MTN–Qhubeka brought the field back together after 60 km (37 mi), when the wind changed to a tailwind.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 2
At this point a five-man breakaway formed, including Michael Mørkøv (Tinkoff–Saxo), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team), Johann van Zyl (MTN–Qhubeka), Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), and Mathew Hayman (Orica–GreenEDGE), establishing a lead of nearly four minutes. At the next change of direction, Etixx–Quick-Step again attacked in the crosswinds. The breakaway was caught after 124 km (77 mi), with the peloton again splitting. Wiggins, Kittel and Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) had all been dropped. Soon afterwards, further attacks from Etixx–Quick-Step removed Rojas and Arnaud Démare (FDJ) from the leading group.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 2
Tom Boonen won the second intermediate sprint, earning three bonus seconds. With 5 km (3 mi) remaining, the leading group was reduced to 15 riders. In the final kilometre, Andrea Guardini and Niki Terpstra had formed a small gap, but Alexander Kristoff bridged up to the pair and launched his sprint with 500 m (1,640 ft) remaining. Kristoff was able to win the stage ahead of Guardini, with Van Avermaet in third.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 2
Due to the 10-second time bonus for winning the stage, Kristoff took over the overall lead of the race, one second ahead of Boonen, who moved into the lead of the points competition. Several riders who had been contenders for the overall victory, including Wiggins and Cancellara, finished over nine minutes behind Kristoff, eliminating them from contention for overall victory.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 3
The third stage of the race was a 10.9 km (7 mi) individual time trial at Lusail. The course followed a route that went past the Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail Sports Arena and Losail International Circuit.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 3
The riders were not allowed to use time trial bicycles as would normally be allowed in an individual time trial; conventional road bicycles were to be used instead. Favourites for the stage victory included current world champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), four-time world champion Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling) and Niki Terpstra (Etixx–Quick-Step). Wiggins was wearing the rainbow jersey of the world time-trial champion in a race for the first time and was riding a road bike with modifications for better aerodynamics.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 3
The first fast time was set by Lars Boom, who took 14' 33" to complete the course, before Matthias Brändle took over the lead with a time of 14' 22". Wiggins briefly took the lead with a time of 14' 13", but soon afterwards Cancellara went one second faster. Terpstra, however, rode eight seconds quicker to win the stage and take over the gold jersey of overall leader.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 3
The race leader after stage 2, Alexander Kristoff, finished 44 seconds behind Terpstra, 36 seconds off the overall lead. Other riders to lose significant time were Tom Boonen and Peter Sagan. Boonen retained his silver jersey, but Sagan lost his white jersey as leader of the young riders classification to Luke Rowe (Team Sky).


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 4
The fourth stage of the race was a 165.5 km (103 mi) route from Al Thakhira to the city of Mesaieed. With the wind generally coming from the south, the riders were riding into a headwind most of the day.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 4
Due to the strong winds, the stage started 40 minutes before the scheduled time, as the race organisers were worried about the possibility of sandstorms and of slow racing leading to a late finish. Despite the headwind, three riders formed a breakaway. They were Jaco Venter (MTN–Qhubeka), Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana), and Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise). The three riders built a lead that reached nearly four minutes.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 4
Etixx–Quick-Step, riding for race leader Niki Terpstra,  controlled the breakaway through most of the day. They were supported towards the end of the race by FDJ. Unlike the earlier road stages, the lack of crosswinds meant that there were no echelons or significant splits in the peloton. The breakaway was caught with 19 km (12 mi) remaining.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 4
In the final kilometres of the stage, several teams tried to ride at the front, including MTN–Qhubeka, Movistar Team, FDJ, Tinkoff–Saxo and Orica–GreenEDGE. The strong pace caused several riders to crash, including Lars Boom (Astana), Theo Bos (MTN–Qhubeka) and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky). All were unhurt and able to finish the stage.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 4
Despite the presence of Marcel Kittel, the team's principal sprinter, Team Giant–Alpecin were riding in support of Nikias Arndt. Kittel took a turn in his lead-out train; since he was in poor form following a period of illness, he had requested the team support Arndt instead.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 4
In the final kilometre, the Katusha team moved to the front before Kristoff again started his sprint early; again, the other sprinters were unable to catch him and he crossed the finish line first. He was only slightly ahead of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), who was so close at the finish line that Kristoff was unsure whether he had won. Arndt was third after Team Giant–Alpecin had done excellent work in the last kilometre.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 4
There was a small split in the peloton at the end of the race. Several riders lost five seconds, including Terpstra, Ian Stannard (Team Sky), Luke Rowe (Team Sky), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Tom Boonen (Etixx–Quick-Step). Kristoff moved up into fifth place in the overall standings thanks to this split and the time bonus for winning the stage. He also took over leadership of the silver jersey of the points classification. Terpstra retained his overall lead, while Rowe remained the leader of the young riders classification.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 5
Stage 5 was a 153 km (95 mi) route starting at Al Zubara Fort. The riders first travelled east towards Al Ghuwariyah, before returning to Al Zubarah. The route then took them north-east along the coast, before finishing with two laps of a circuit in Madinat ash Shamal.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 5
Etixx–Quick-Step once again attacked early in the stage, breaking the peloton into echelons in the opening kilometres. Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff–Saxo), in second place overnight, was among the riders who failed to make the lead group. The gap between the groups never extended much beyond half a minute and, after around 60 km (37 mi) of racing, Bodnar's group was able to rejoin the lead group and the racing, which had been frenetic until that point, calmed down.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 5
At that point a breakaway formed, made up of Ben Hermans (BMC Racing Team), Marco Haller (Team Katusha), Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana) and Mathew Hayman (Orica–GreenEDGE). The five riders at one point had a lead of over two and a half minutes. Hayman won both intermediate sprints and at one point was virtual leader of the race, before the peloton behind took up the chase in earnest. The breakaway was caught with 13 km (8 mi) remaining.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 5
In the final six kilometres, Team Katusha and BMC Racing Team attacked and forced another split in the peloton. Tom Boonen was among two Etixx–Quick-Step riders in the 10-man front group, but Niki Terpstra, the race leader, was not. Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) and Maciej Bodnar were in the lead group, which built a lead of 15 seconds. Terpstra would have lost the race lead, but Etixx–Quick-Step were able to bring the groups back together. After the race, it was revealed that the three Tinkoff–Saxo riders in the leading group were not aware that Terpstra had been dropped and, with team radios banned, directeur sportif Bjarne Riis was not able to inform them.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 5
As they approached the finishing line, Kristoff again opened his sprint early and was able to hold off the rest of the field for his third stage victory of the race. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo) finished second and Nikias Arndt, again sprinting for Team Giant–Alpecin in place of Marcel Kittel, finished third. Sagan therefore moved into first place in the young riders competition, overtaking Luke Rowe (Team Sky).


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 5
Thanks to the time bonus on the finish line, Kristoff was now in third place overall, just 11 seconds behind Terpstra. This meant that Kristoff could win the overall victory in the race if he was able to win the final stage and take time bonuses at the intermediate sprints.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 5
Following the stage, the race organisers announced that Lars Boom (Astana) had been disqualified from the race. His bike had developed a puncture about 20 km (12 mi) from the finish and he had attempted to regain contact with the peloton by chasing in the slipstream of his team car.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 6
The final stage of the 2015 Tour of Qatar started where stage 1 had finished, at the Sealine Beach Resort south of Mesaieed. It took the riders north to Doha. In Doha, the riders rode to the Doha Corniche, where they completed ten laps of a 5.7 km (3.5 mi) finishing circuit.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 6
After the previous stage, Niki Terpstra (Etixx–Quick-Step) had indicated that his team would happily allow a breakaway to win the stage in order to deny Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) the possibility of taking overall victory with the aid of the bonus seconds for the stage win and intermediate sprints. A break was allowed to go away early, formed of Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing Team), Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), Nicola Boem and Stefano Pirazzi (both Bardiani–CSF). They were able to build a lead of over two minute, but Team Katusha took up the chase to support Kristoff in seeking bonus seconds.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 6
The two intermediate sprints were both located on the finish line of the finishing circuit, on the fourth and seventh lap. Burghardt, Van Hecke, and Boem were caught first, while Pirazzi was caught on lap 4. Etixx–Quick-Step attempted to place riders in the sprint to prevent Kristoff winning the bonus seconds; they succeeded in winning the sprint with Tom Boonen, but Matteo Trentin was beaten by Kristoff to second place. Kristoff therefore won two bonus seconds, placing him nine seconds behind Terpstra. With a ten-second bonus available to the stage winner, Kristoff was now within reach of the overall win.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 6
Etixx–Quick-Step then sent their rider Iljo Keisse into a breakaway alongside Gijs Van Hoecke (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), with the intent of preventing Kristoff winning any more bonus seconds. Keisse won the intermediate sprint with Van Hoecke second; they then allowed the peloton – led by Katusha – to catch them.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 6
In the final kilometres of the stage, Team Katusha, who had done most of the work throughout the day, were unable to maintain their position at the head of the peloton. After the stage, Kristoff admitted that his team was tired from their work during the week. Fabian Cancellara put in an attack in the final five kilometres, but was brought back by the peloton led in particular by IAM Cycling and Astana. In the final kilometre, Tinkoff–Saxo came to the front in support of Peter Sagan.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 6
Sam Bennett (Bora–Argon 18) was given a strong lead-out by his teammates. He was then able to follow Andrea Guardini (Astana), who launched his sprint with 200 m (660 ft) to go. Bennett was then able to come past and take his first win of 2015, which he later described as the biggest of his career so far.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Stages, Stage 6
Kristoff finished 19th; he therefore failed to gain the bonus seconds he needed for overall victory and finished nine seconds behind Terpstra. Terpstra therefore won the Tour of Qatar for the second successive season. Kristoff won the silver jersey of the points competition, thanks to his three stage wins, while Sagan won the young riders competition. Etixx–Quick-Step won the teams competition.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Classification leadership table
In the 2015 Tour of Qatar, three different jerseys were awarded. The first of these was the general classification. It was calculated by adding together the times recorded in each stage of the race, then making adjustments to take account of bonus seconds won for stage victories and intermediate sprints in the road stages (the winner of the individual time trial did not receive bonus seconds). The winner of each stage received a ten-second bonus; the rider coming second received a six-second bonus; the third rider across the line received a four-second bonus.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Classification leadership table
Similarly, the winner, second-placed and third-placed riders in intermediate sprints won three-, two- and one-second bonuses respectively. If two riders were tied on the same time, the precise time (to one-hundredths of a second) recorded in the time trial would have been used to separate the riders. The leader of the general classification wore a gold jersey and the winner of the competition is considered the overall winner of the race.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Classification leadership table
The points classification was determined by adding together the points that each rider won on each stage. Points were awarded for coming in the top ten in the stage (the winner won 15 points; the tenth-placed rider won one point). Points were also awarded for coming in the top three in the intermediate sprints that took place on each road stage (three points for the winner, two for the second-placed rider and one for the third). The leader of the points classification was awarded a silver jersey.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Classification leadership table
The third classification was the young rider classification. This was open to riders born on or after 1 January 1990. The first eligible rider in the general classification was considered the leader of the young rider classification and was awarded a pearl white jersey.


2015 Tour of Qatar, Classification leadership table
Finally, there was a classification for teams. After each stage, the times of the first three riders on each team were added together. The team with the lowest cumulative time was the leader of the team classification.


2015 Tour of Qinghai Lake
The 2015 Tour of Qinghai Lake is the 14th edition  of an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Qinghai Province, China since 2002, named after Qinghai Lake. The race is run at the highest category (apart from those races which make up the UCI World Tour, and is rated by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.HC (hors category) race as part of the UCI Asia Tour.


2015 Tour of Slovenia
The 2015 Tour of Slovenia was the 22nd edition of the Tour of Slovenia cycling stage race. It was scheduled from 18 to 21 June.


2015 Tour of Slovenia
The winner of overall classification was Primož Roglič. The selection was made on Stage 3 to Trije Kralji.


2015 Tour of Turkey
The 2015 Tour of Turkey was the 51st edition of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey cycling stage race. It started on 26 April in Alanya and finished on 3 May in Istanbul.


2015 Tour of Turkey, Teams
The start list included 21 teams (6 UCI WorldTeams, 14 Professional Continental Teams, and 1 Continental Team).


2015 Tour of Utah
The 2015 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah is the twelfth edition of the Tour of Utah. It starts on August 3 in Logan and finishes on August 9 in Park City. It is rated as a 2.HC event on the UCI America Tour.


2015 Tour of Utah, Teams
The fifteen teams invited to participate in the Tour of Utah are:


2015 Tour of the Basque Country
The 2015 Tour of the Basque Country was the 55th edition of the Tour of the Basque Country stage race. It took place from 6 to 11 April and was the ninth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race was won by Joaquim Rodríguez.


2015 Tour of the Basque Country, Teams
As the Tour of the Basque Country was a UCI World Tour event, all 17 UCI WorldTeams were invited automatically and were obliged to send a squad. Two Professional Continental teams received wildcard invitations.


2015 Tour of the Basque Country, Classification leadership table
In the Tour of the Basque Country, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, the leader received a yellow jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the Tour of the Basque Country, and the winner of the classification was the winner of the race.


2015 Tour of the Basque Country, Classification leadership table
Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a white jersey. In the points classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. For winning a stage, a rider earned 25 points, second place earned 20 points, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point fewer per place down to a single point for 15th. There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a red jersey with white dots. In the mountains classification, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs.


2015 Tour of the Basque Country, Classification leadership table
The fourth jersey represented the sprints classification, marked by a blue jersey. In the sprints classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 3 at intermediate sprint points during each stage, with the exception of the final individual time trial stage. There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.


2015 Touring Car Masters
The 2015 Touring Car Masters was an Australian motor racing series for Touring Cars manufactured between 1963 and 1976. It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) as a National Series with Touring Car Masters Pty Ltd appointed by CAMS as the Category Manager. The series was the ninth annual Touring Car Masters.


2015 Touring Car Masters
The Pro Masters class was won by John Bowe (Ford Mustang and Holden Torana SL/R 5000), Pro Am by Cameron Tilley (Chrysler Valiant Pacer), Pro Sport by Leo Tobin (Holden HQ Monaro), Invitational by Paul Freestone (Chevrolet Camaro SS) and Trans Am by Charlie O'Brien (Pontiac Firebird).


2015 Touring Car Masters, Classes
Each automobile was allocated into one of the following classes:


2015 Touring Car Masters, Points system
Series points were awarded on the following basis within each class at each race.


2015 Townsville Blackhawks season
The 2015 Townsville Blackhawks season was the first in the club's history. Coached by Kristian Woolf and captained by Daniel Beasley, they competed in the Intrust Super Cup. The club won the minor premiership before losing in the grand final 20-32 to the Ipswich Jets.


2015 Townsville Blackhawks season, Season summary
The Blackhawks played their first Intrust Super Cup game against the Mackay Cutters in Townsville, winning 30-16. They received their first loss the following week, losing 24-36 to the Ipswich Jets. The club then went on an 8-game winning streak before losing to the PNG Hunters at home. The Blackhawks finished the regular season as the minor premiers, winning 19 games. They qualified for the grand final, losing to the Ipswich Jets.


2015 Towson Tigers football team
The 2015 Towson Tigers football team represented Towson University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach Rob Ambrose and played their home games at Johnny Unitas Stadium. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 7–4, 5–3 in CAA play to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place.


2015 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
The 2015 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the 41st annual running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the third race of the 2015 IndyCar Series season. It took place on April 19, 2015 in Long Beach, California on its temporary street circuit. It was won by Scott Dixon for the Chip Ganassi Racing team. Hélio Castroneves took second and Juan Pablo Montoya both of whom race for Team Penske. The top finishing rookie in the race, as in the previous round, was Gabby Chaves, who finished in 16th position.


2015 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Report, Race results
Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.


2015 Toyota Owners 400
The 2015 Toyota Owners 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. It was scheduled to be held on April 25, 2015, but was run on April 26, 2015 due to rain. Contested over 400 laps on the 0.75 mile (1.2 km) D-shaped short track, it was the ninth race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Kurt Busch won the race, his first of the season, while teammate Kevin Harvick finished runner-up. Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.


2015 Toyota Owners 400
Joey Logano won the pole for the race. He led 94 laps on his way to a fifth-place finish. Kurt Busch led a race high of 291 laps. The race had twelve lead changes among five different drivers, as well as eight caution flag periods for 53 laps.


2015 Toyota Owners 400
This was the 26th career victory for Kurt Busch, second at Richmond International Raceway and first at the track for Stewart-Haas Racing. The win moved Busch up to 18th in the points standings. Chevrolet left Richmond with a 29-point lead over Ford in the manufacturer standings.


2015 Toyota Owners 400
The Toyota Owners 400 was carried by Fox Sports on the broadcast Fox network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Report, Background
Richmond International Raceway (RIR) is a 3/4-mile (1.2 km), D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Xfinity Series. "America's Premier Short Track" formerly hosted a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, a Verizon IndyCar Series race, and two USAC sprint car races.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Report, Background
Kevin Harvick entered Richmond with a 30-point lead over Joey Logano. Martin Truex Jr. entered 33 back. Jimmie Johnson entered 56 back. Brad Keselowski entered 59 back.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Report, Background, Changes to the track
Following an incident from last year's Federated Auto Parts 400, Richmond International Raceway has added metal barriers and more security personnel to prevent fans from scaling the catch fence during the race. With 71 laps to go in last September's race, a man identified as James Dennis climbed to the top of the catch fence overhead of turn 4. This forced David Hoots, competition director for the Sprint Cup Series, to put the race under caution. "It's frustrating and unfortunate," Dennis Bickmeier, track president of Richmond, said Friday. "I was very adamant after hearing about it that fans don't do that. A fan doesn't disrupt an event. You respect it."


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Report, Background, Entry list
The entry list for the Toyota Owners 400 was released on Monday, April 20, 2015 at 11:23 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-five cars were entered for the race. Chase Elliott attempted to make his second career Sprint Cup Series start in the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Ron Hornaday Jr. was on the initial entry list, but The Motorsports Group decided to replace him in the No. 30 Chevrolet, which was driven by Jeff Green who attempted to make his first start since the 2011 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Reed Sorenson drove the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford that had been driven by Chris Buescher.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Practice, First practice
Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 21.414 and a speed of 126.086 mph (202.916 km/h).


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Practice, Final practice
Kasey Kahne was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 21.368 and a speed of 126.357 mph (203.352 km/h).


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Qualifying
Joey Logano won the pole with a time of 21.248 and a speed of 127.071 mph (204.501 km/h). “The guys did a great job getting us faster today,” Logano said. “It is fun because you go out and run all these laps and that lap didn’t even actually feel that good because you have seven or eight laps on your tires and the car is sliding around a lot so it is funny that the pole sitting car is sliding all over the place but everyone is on old tires out there.”


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Qualifying
Denny Hamlin, who got out of the car last week at Bristol because of neck spasms, qualified second. “I’m 100 percent fore sure,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said. “I would have liked the pole but I am definitely happy for Joey to see him get it,” Brad Keselowski said of his teammate being on the pole. “It is nice for Team Penske and great for Ford. If you can’t get a pole you want it to be your teammate so I am happy that he was able to get it done.” Jeb Burton and Brendan Gaughan failed to qualify for the race. Just before the race, BK Racing announced that Burton will drive the No. 23 car in place of teammate J. J. Yeley. Because of the driver change, Jeb Burton started the race from the rear of the field.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race
The race was scheduled to start at 7:14 p.m. Eastern time, but the threat of bad weather moved the start up to 7:05 p.m. It was all for naught, however. NASCAR made the decision to postpone the race to Sunday at 1:16 p.m.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, First half, Start
The race started at 1:19 p.m. with Joey Logano leading the field to the green flag. With all the rubber being washed away by the rain, the cars were primarily running the bottom groove. Coming out of turn 4 on lap 4, Danica Patrick got hit by Casey Mears and about spun out. She saved the car and the race remained green. Logano caught the end of the field ten laps into the race. By lap 21, Kurt Busch began reeling in the leader.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, First half, Start
By lap 42, Busch, his teammate Kevin Harvick, and Martin Truex Jr. pulled within a second of Logano. The first caution of the day flew on lap 51. This was a planned competition caution for overnight rain. The top ten in the running order entering pit road would've remained the same exiting, but Jamie McMurray, who was running eighth, had to make another pit stop for loose lug nuts. He restarted the race in 30th position.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 57. After 40 laps, Busch pulled up to the leader. Using the lapped car of Josh Wise as a pick, Busch passed to the inside of Logano to take the lead on lap 96. The second caution flew on lap 124 when Joey Gase, coming off turn 2, got turned by Aric Almirola and hit inside backstretch wall head-on. Busch swapped the lead with Harvick on pit road with his teammate pitting before the start/finish line. Busch, however, exited pit road with the lead.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, First half, Trouble for Josh Wise
The race restarted on lap 137. The third caution flew the next lap for Wise's car had stalled at the exit of pit road.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, First half, Trouble for Josh Wise
The race restarted on lap 144. The fourth caution race flew on lap 163 when Wise blew an engine. Having just rejoined the race, his No. 98 Ford went up in smoke while going into turn 1. Busch swapped the lead with Harvick on pit road. This time, however, it was Harvick who exited with the lead.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 171 and Busch immediately took back the lead. The race went through a long green flag run with everyone settling into a rhythm. McMurray, who restarted the race earlier in 30th, eventually ran Busch down. and took the lead on lap 260. He gave it back to Busch the next lap and took it back the lap after that. While McMurrary and Busch fought for the lead, many cars began hitting pit road. McMurray gave up the lead to pit on lap 266 and gave it to Brad Keselowski.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, Second half, Halfway
Brett Moffitt had a tire going flat and slammed the wall in turn 1. This brought out the 5th caution on lap 270. Trevor Bayne also had a tire going flat and hit the wall in turn 4. To add insult to injury for Moffitt, he was forced to restart the race from the tail-end of the field for having too many men over the wall. Fifteen cars took the waive-around, most of whom were cars running in the top ten when the caution came out.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted on lap 279 with Busch still in the lead. After a nearly 60 lap green run, debris in turn 3 brought out the sixth caution of the race with 50 laps to go. Kurt Busch exited pit road first to maintain the lead. Jeb Burton was forced to drop to the tail-end of the field for an uncontrolled tire.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 42 laps to go. The seventh caution of the race flew with 41 laps to go when Tony Stewart went spinning on the front stretch. Coming to the line, Stewart made contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr., went spinning and made contact with the inside pit wall towards turn 1. “I don’t know," Dale said after the race. "You’ll have to ask him. He hit me in the left-rear quarter panel. I was trying to clear the 51 on the outside of me, so I was as high as I could go. You’ll have to ask him.”


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
"I mean, he hit me right here. I ain't got that good of a peripheral vision. Pretty good, but not that good. Well, it's never his fault. I was doing everything I needed to do. I didn't drive under, I didn't drive into him, I didn't move my line at all. He's gotta take a little ownership in what happened there."


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 33 laps to go and caution flew for the eighth time when Jeb Burton got turned on the backstretch. He was rear-ended by Sam Hornish Jr. exiting turn 2.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 26 laps to go and Kurt Busch drove off scoring the 26th victory of his career.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Busch. “It’s a total team effort. And the way that everything came together just seemed like we were building and building and building towards a great finish like this. And I have this opportunity because of Gene Haas and everybody that’s part of our family at Stewart-Haas. It’s an unbelievable feeling when you pull deep from within and you go through troubles and you know, when you’re accused of something and things go sideways, your personal life doesn’t need to affect your business life.”


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Media, Television
Fox Sports covered their 15th race at Richmond International Raceway. Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and six-time Richmond winner Darrell Waltrip had the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Chris Neville and Matt Yocum handled the pit road duties for the television side.


2015 Toyota Owners 400, Media, Radio
MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Joe Moore and Jeff Striegle called the race in the booth when the field was racing down the front stretch. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform inside of turn 3 on the backstretch when the field was racing down the backstretch. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post worked pit road for MRN.


2015 Toyota Premier Cup
The 2015 Toyota Premier Cup was the 5th Toyota Premier Cup. It's a single-game cup competition organized by the Toyota  and Football Association of Thailand. It features BEC Tero Sasana the winners of the 2014 Thai League Cup and Sagan Tosu an invited team from the 2014 J.League Division 1 (Japan). It features at Supachalasai Stadium. It is sponsored by Toyota Motor (Thailand) Co., Ltd.


2015 Toyota Racing Series
The 2015 Toyota Racing Series was the eleventh running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheeler motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series, which consisted of sixteen races at five meetings, began on 14 January at Ruapuna Park in Christchurch, and ended on 15 February with the 60th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix, at Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding.


2015 Toyota Racing Series
With a third-place finish in the penultimate race of the season at Manfeild, Canadian driver Lance Stroll – driving for M2 Competition – clinched the championship title, having amassed an unassailable 93-point lead ahead of the final race. Stroll won three of the first four races to be held in the series at Ruapuna and Teretonga (taking the round wins at both circuits) before consistent finishing for the remainder of the campaign allowed him to maintain his championship lead throughout.


2015 Toyota Racing Series
Stroll added his fourth win of the season in the final race, the New Zealand Grand Prix, becoming the first Canadian to win the Grand Prix. M2 Competition team-mate Brandon Maïsano finished the season as runner-up, 108 points in arrears of Stroll. Maïsano won five races during the season – the most of all drivers – with a win at each meeting except for Teretonga, while taking the round win at Hampton Downs.


2015 Toyota Racing Series
Third place in the championship went to Santino Ferrucci, for the Giles Motorsport team. Ferrucci took five podium finishes before taking his first victory at Manfeild, in the second race. He finished 33 points behind Maïsano and 141 behind Stroll. Four other drivers took race victories during the 2015 season as Arjun Maini (M2 Competition) and Sam MacLeod (Giles Motorsport) each won two races – both at Hampton Downs and Taupo respectively – as they completed the top five in the drivers' championship, with MacLeod taking the round wins at Taupo and Manfeild.


2015 Toyota Racing Series
Two drivers from New Zealand also won races, both coming at Teretonga Park as Jamie Conroy – another M2 Competition driver – and Brendon Leitch, for Victory Motor Racing, both achieved their first victories in the series. Only ETEC Motorsport failed to take a race win, with a pair of third places from Thomas Randle being their best result.


2015 Toyota Racing Series, Race calendar and results
The calendar for the series was announced on 14 July 2014, and was held over five successive weekends in January and February. The event at Taupo Motorsport Park was held as a quadruple-header, the first such instance for the series.


2015 Toyota Racing Series, Championship standings
In order for a driver to score championship points, they had to complete at least 75% of the race winner's distance, and be running at the race's completion. All races counted towards the final championship standings.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350
The 2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on June 28, 2015 at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. Contested over 110 laps on the 1.99 mile (3.2 km) road course, it was the 16th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kyle Busch won the race, first of the season and first since the 2014 Auto Club 400. Brother Kurt Busch finished runner-up and Clint Bowyer finished third. Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350
A. J. Allmendinger won the pole for the race and led one lap before engine issues took him out of contention and finished 37th. Jimmie Johnson led a race high of 45 laps before getting passed for the lead with a few laps to go and finished sixth. The race had nine lead changes among five different drivers, as well as five caution flag periods for 21 laps. There was one red flag period for ten minutes and 30 seconds.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350
This was the 30th career victory for Kyle Busch, second at Sonoma Raceway and fourth at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. This win moved Busch up to 37th in the points standings. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Toyota left Sonoma trailing Chevrolet by 94 points in the manufacturer standings.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350
The Toyota/Save Mart 350 was carried by Fox Sports on the cable/satellite Fox Sports 1 network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Report, Background
Sonoma Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway and Infineon Raceway, is a 2.52-mile (4.06 km) road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains in Sonoma, California, USA. The road course features 12 turns on a hilly course with 160 feet (49 m) of total elevation change.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Report, Background
It is host to one of only two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races each year that are run on road courses (the other being Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York), and one of six national series road course races (Xfinity Series racing at Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America; and the Camping World Truck Series at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park). It is also host to the Verizon IndyCar Series and several other auto races and motorcycle races such as the American Federation of Motorcyclists series. Sonoma Raceway continues to host amateur, or club racing events which may or may not be open to the general public. The largest such car club is the Sports Car Club of America.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Report, Background
With the closure of Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California after the 1988 season, NASCAR, wanting a west coast road course event to replace it, chose the Sears Point facility. Riverside Raceway was razed for a shopping center development.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Report, Background
In 2002, Sears Point Raceway was renamed after a corporate sponsor, Infineon. However, as with many renamings of sports complexes, many people still call it by its original name (it was never affiliated with Sears, Roebuck and Company, having been named for the nearby Sears Point Ranch founded in the 1850s by settler Franklin Sears). On March 7, 2012, it was announced that Infineon would not renew their contract for naming rights when the deal expired in May, and the track management is looking for a new company to take over naming rights. Until it can find a new corporate sponsor, the course is simply identifying itself as "Sonoma".


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Report, Background
Kevin Harvick entered Sonoma with a 15-point lead over Martin Truex, Jr. Joey Logano entered 56 back. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. entered 68 back. Jimmie Johnson entered 70 back.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Report, Background, New pit road policy
Following a miscommunication in the Xfinity race at Chicagoland Speedway that resulted in 19 cars pitting before pit road was officially opened, NASCAR announced that the indicator light at the entrance of pit road would be controlled by the officials in race control instead of an official at pit entrance.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Report, Background, Entry list
The entry list for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 was released on Friday, June 19 at 2:32 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-four cars were entered for the race. All but the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Ford driven by Michael McDowell were entered for the previous race at Michigan. Three driver changes took place for this weekend. Boris Said drove the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford in place of Mike Bliss. Alex Kennedy drove the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet for Ty Dillon.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Report, Background, Entry list
Justin Marks attempted to make his first start of the season in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford for Brett Moffitt. The No. 98 Phil Parsons Racing entry, driven by Josh Wise, switched from Ford to Chevrolet for this race. Jeff Gordon, the all-time winningest driver at Sonoma Raceway, made his 23rd and final start at the track.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Practice, First practice
Clint Bowyer was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 74.979 and a speed of 95.547 mph (153.768 km/h).


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Practice, Final practice
Kyle Busch was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 74.489 and a speed of 96.175 mph (154.779 km/h).


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Qualifying
A. J. Allmendinger won the pole with a time of 74.385 and a speed of 96.310 mph (154.996 km/h). "I’ve really got to thank all my guys that are here and especially back at the shop," Allmendinger said. "They’ve worked on this car so much to do everything that we need to get as much speed out of it as possible. So, it’s a good day, but we’ve got to focus on tomorrow.” “It has a nice balance all the way through, the braking and transmission gears, and the overall corner speed," Kurt Busch said after qualifying second.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Qualifying
"It’s a nice package that (crew chief) Tony Gibson gave me, and all the guys back at the shop." “Yeah, we kind of overachieved today," Matt Kenseth said after qualifying third. "We were really bad yesterday, we were really bad the first round. I’m pleasantly surprised and kind of confused as far as we’ve been off, but we’ll take that.” "I think the car was capable of being at least first or second," Jeff Gordon said after qualifying fifth. "I missed one corner there on that last run and I don’t know how much that cost me, but overall it was a really solid effort." Brendan Gaughan was the lone driver that failed to make the race.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, First half, Start
The race was scheduled to start at 3:19 p.m. but started three minutes later when A. J. Allmendinger led the field to the green flag. Kurt Busch jumped ahead of Allmendinger in turn 2 and led the first lap. The field settled into a single file rhythm. Jamie McMurray made an unscheduled pit stop on lap 10 for a flat right side tire. Denny Hamlin also made an unscheduled pit stop on that lap for a loose right-rear tire.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, First half, Start
The first caution of the race flew on lap 22 when David Gilliland slid off the track and slammed into the tire barrier in turn 10 due to a flat left-front tire. “That was a bad deal," Gilliland said. "I just passed Sam Hornish Jr. up in seven and went through the esses and I just told Donnie (crew chief Wingo), ‘I think I’ve got a left-front going down. It’s soft.’


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, First half, Start
We were gonna come in and pit that lap and I eased up a little bit going through 10, but it never turned and once you get off in the dirt there that’s a bad place to get off. "It was a big hit, but I’m OK.   I’m just bummed out for the situation. This is a great race track. We really love racing out here and I’ve had some great finishes here, but we’ll have to wait until next year to try again.” Under caution, Clint Bowyer opted not to pit and assumed the lead.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 27. Kyle Busch passed Bowyer in turn 7a to take the lead one lap later. The second caution flew on lap 29 when David Ragan made contact with Martin Truex, Jr. and turned him into the wall in turn 8. “When you’re mid-pack, it’s not a good place to be,” Truex, Jr. told Fox. “It’s just really congested. We were a lot faster than a couple of guys around us and you’re trying not to get run over and you’re trying to make moves.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, First half, Second quarter
Every time I passed the 55, he would just keep staying on the side of me and not giving me three or four inches to get clear so we could all get going. I guess he turned me on purpose. I ran into the side of him first, so I kind of had it coming. But that was an accident. I thought I gave him enough room there coming out of the esses.” Ragan gave his take on the incident after exiting the race on lap 79.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, First half, Second quarter
“I didn’t get together with the '78', the '78' ran me off the race track, just body slammed me," said Ragan, who finished 39th. "I was just trying to get back on the race track. That’s a great instance where the '78' just absolutely did me wrong and I’m trying to get back on the race track. That’s unfortunate for him, it’s never good to see anybody tear up their race car. Martin would probably not do that again if he had an opportunity.” The damage to the concrete wall was severe enough that NASCAR red flagged the race on lap 32 for 10 minutes and 30 seconds.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 34. Kurt Busch passed brother Kyle Busch in turn 11 to take back the lead on lap 40. Matt Kenseth blew out a left-rear tire in turn 4a and had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 45. A number of drivers, including Jeff Gordon, began hitting pit road on lap 52. Kurt Busch gave up the lead on lap 53 to make his pit stop and gave it to Jimmie Johnson.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, Second half, Halfway
Allmendinger began reporting fuel pickup issues on lap 57. He made an unscheduled pit stop on lap 60. Justin Allgaier ran out of fuel on lap 65, but coasted the car back to pit road and the race stayed green. Johnson hit pit road on lap 67 and the lead was given back to Kurt Busch. The third caution of the race flew on lap 74 when J. J. Yeley, exiting turn 10, got loose and hit the inside wall. Johnson opted not to pit and reassumed the lead.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted with 32 laps to go. The fourth caution of the race flew on the same lap when Carl Edwards, entering the esses, hit Ragan and spun down into the wall.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 26 laps to go. Kurt Busch went off track in turn 10 with 14 laps to go. The air intake became covered with grass. Debris on the front stretch brought out the fifth caution of the race with twelve laps to go. Exiting turn 11, the left-rear wheel house of Casey Mears's car came off. While Johnson opted to stay out, almost every other driver opted to pit for tires. Coming into his pit box, Matt DiBenedetto got clipped and turned by one of the track's cleanup trucks.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with seven laps to go. Kyle Busch passed Johnson climbing up turn 3 to take the lead with five laps to go. Michael McDowell went off track in turn 7a with three to go, but got the car going and the race remained green. Kyle Busch drove away to score his 30th career win. And it is also the first time that the Busch brothers had a 2-1 with Kyle in first and his brother, Kurt, in second.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
“This is awesome – it’s unbelievable," said Busch. "Can’t say enough about my team, everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. I can’t say enough about my medical team that got me back in shape and ready to go behind the wheel. We have our work cut out for us, we knew we did in the beginning and I knew we put us in the hole in points. It’s unfortunate that we’ve had a couple crashes. I hate it for my guys, they don’t deserve to be in that spot. They have certainly worked hard all year long."


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
"Just a lot of things went wrong. We had probably the fastest car on the racetrack it just took us all day to overcome all the stuff we had going on," said Harvick after finishing fourth. "Just want to thank Budweiser, Outback, Folds of Honor, everybody from Jimmy John's and Chevrolet for everything they do for our team." "I saw there were a bunch of cars between myself and the first guy on (new) tires," Johnson said after finishing sixth. "I felt pretty good about things.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
And then after about a lap and a half, I wasn't feeling so good about things. They were there quickly. But if we came back tomorrow, we'd still run the same strategy. We played it perfectly." "They dropped the green and we were moving forward," Gordon said after finishing 16th in his final start at Sonoma Raceway. "I was pretty happy with it. I felt that rear starting to go off pretty early on and saw some guys coming from further back. And so we tried to make a couple of adjustments.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
It just seemed as the track continued to lay rubber, our set-up, which we were taking a little bit of a gamble and risk with, but it looked good in practice; but it just didn’t pay off for us. The car was really, really good there at the end. Nothing’s going to take away from this weekend for me. I know it wasn’t the finish we all wanted, but it was a very memorable weekend. It’s still a little bit more fun to go to hang out with some of my friends and family here. But, I hate that we weren’t a little bit better. And that last thing, I was just taking some risk on that last pit stop. We didn’t have anything to lose at that point.”


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Media, Television
Fox Sports covered their seventh race at Sonoma Raceway and their first since 2006. Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip had the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Chris Neville, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled the pit road duties for the television side.


2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Media, Radio
PRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice and Mark Garrow called the race in the booth when the field was racing past the pit straight. Pat Patterson called the race from atop turn 3a when the field was racing up turns 2, 3 and 3a. Brad Gillie called the race from a platform outside turn 7a when the field was racing through turns 4a, 7a and 8. Rob Albright called the race from a billboard outside turn 10 when the field was racing down turns 8a, 9 and 10. Heather DuBoise, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards worked pit road for PRN.


2015 Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council election
The 2015 Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council election was scheduled to take place on 7 May 2015 to elect members of Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections. One third of the council was up for election, with each successful candidate serving a four-year term of office, expiring in 2019. The Conservative Party held overall control of the council.


2015 Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council election, Results, By ward, Bucklow-St. Martins ward
Cllr. John Smith defected from the Labour Party to the Conservative Party in May 2016 and stood down in 2017 forcing a by-election which saw Aidan Williams regain the seat for Labour.


2015 Trampoline World Championships
The 31st Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships was held at the Stadium Arena Fyn in Odense, Denmark, from November 25–28, 2015. This event was the first qualifying round for the 2016 Olympics which was held in Rio de Janeiro. The top 8 men and women automatically earned their nation quota places for the Olympics, subject to a maximum of two quota places per nation. A further 16 of each sex will get a second chance to earn a quota place at the Rio de Janeiro test event in April 2016 for a further five spots.


2015 Trampoline World Championships, Women's Results, Trampoline Team
The women's trampoline team final took place on November 18.


2015 Trans-Am Series
The 2015 Trans-Am Series was the 47th running of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans Am Series. Amy Ruman won an impressive 8 races, and made history for the second time by becoming the first woman ever to win a Trans Am Series Championship, in addition to her unprecedented first win in 2011.


2015 Trans-Am Series, Schedule
The schedule was released December 5, 2014, and consists of twelve rounds.


2015 Transnistrian census
The 2015 Transnistrian census was organized in the unrecognized state of Transnistria in 2015. It was held after Moldova, internationally recognized as the owner of the state's territory, made a census in 2014.


2015 Transnistrian census, Census results
According to the census results, Transnistria's population was of 475,373 people in 2015. This represented a population decline of 14.47% (or nearly 80,000 people) since the 2004 Transnistrian census, which is an amount similar to the population of the second largest Transnistrian-controlled city, Bender (Tighina).


2015 Transnistrian census, Census results
This census was the first one in Transnistria in which the population was given the option to identify as "Transnistrian", which more than 1,000 people did. Furthermore, 14% of the population did not specify its ethnic affiliation.


2015 Transnistrian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Transnistria on 29 November 2015, alongside municipal elections.


2015 Transnistrian parliamentary election, Electoral system
The 43 seats of the Supreme Council are elected in single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post voting.


2015 Transnistrian parliamentary election, Results
Overall turnout was 48.3%, with the Camenca District reporting the highest turnout of 54.0%. The lowest turnout was in the city of Bender, with a turnout of only 42.7%.


2015 Transnistrian parliamentary election, Results
Obnovlenie won 35 out of 43 seats in the Supreme Council, maintaining their status as a majority government. Obnovlenie leader Mikhail Burla was re-elected in constituency #34, as was PCP leader Oleg Khorzhan in constituency #40 (Tiraspol).


2015 Transnistrian parliamentary election, Results
On 23 December 2015, Vadim Krasnoselski, who was elected in constituency #7, was elected Speaker.


2015 Travelers Curling Club Championship
The 2015 Travelers Curling Club Championship was held from November 23 to 28 at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club in Ottawa, Ontario.


2015 Travelers Men's NOCA Provincials
The 2015 Travelers Northern Ontario Men's Provincial Championship, the "provincial" men's curling championship of Northern Ontario was held February 4–8 at the Kenora Recreation Centre in Kenora, Ontario. The winning Brad Jacobs team will represent Northern Ontario at the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary.


2015 Tre Valli Varesine
The 2015 Tre Valli Varesine was the 95th edition of the Tre Valli Varesine single-day cycling race. As was the 2014 edition, it was raced in September; however, unlike the previous edition, it was held after the World Championships. It was the final part of the Trittico Lombardo. The race started in Busto Arsizio and concluded in Varese, after 198 kilometres (123 mi).


2015 Tre Valli Varesine
The race consisted of the first 83 km from Busto Arsizio to Varese passing through several municipality of the Provincia di Varese, and then a final circuit in Varese that was repeated nine times  The race was won by Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), who attacked on the final climb and finished eight seconds ahead of the lead group. Sergey Firsanov (RusVelo) was second, with Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) third.


2015 Trek Factory Racing season
The 2015 season for the Trek Factory Racing cycling team began in January at the Tour Down Under. As a UCI WorldTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.


2015 Trenton Freedom season
The 2015 Trenton Freedom season was the second season for the American indoor football franchise, and their second in the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL).


2015 Trenton Freedom season, Roster
Rookies in italics updated June 14, 201527 Active, 18 Inactive


2015 Tri-Cities Fever season
The 2015 Tri-Cities Fever season was the team's eleventh season as a professional indoor football franchise and sixth in the Indoor Football League (IFL). One of ten teams competing in the IFL for the 2015 season, the Kennewick, Washington-based Tri-Cities Fever were members of the Intense Conference.


2015 Tri-Cities Fever season
Under the leadership of owner/general manager Teri Carr and head coach Adam Shackleford, the team played their home games at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Washington.


2015 Tri-Cities Fever season, Roster
Rookies in italics updated June 23, 201524 Active, 8 Inactive→ More rosters


2015 Triglav Trophy
The 2015 Triglav Trophy was held on 15–19 April 2015. It was an international figure skating competition held annually in Jesenice, Slovenia. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's and ladies' singles on the senior, junior, and novice levels.


2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election
General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on 7 September 2015. The date of the general elections was announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on 13 June 2015. The result was a victory for the opposition People's National Movement, which received 52% of the vote and won 23 of the 41 seats in the House of Representatives.


2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, Background
The 2010 general elections  were won by the People's Partnership (PP) coalition, an alliance of the United National Congress (UNC), the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), the Congress of the People (COP) and the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP). The PP took 29 of the 41 seats, with the People's National Movement (PNM) winning the other 12. Prior to the 2015 general elections, two by-elections were held in St Joseph and Chaguanas West, which saw the seats held by the PP won by the PNM and Independent Liberal Party (ILP) respectively.


2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, Electoral system
The 41 elected members of the House of Representatives were elected in single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post. A total of 2,199 polling stations were used.


2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, Campaign
A total of 127 candidates contested the election for 17 different political parties, with another five running as independents. The PNM was the only party to contest all 41 seats, and only two other parties contested more than half the seats; the United National Congress ran in 28 and the ILP in 26.


2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, Campaign
The COP ran in eight seats, the Laventille Outreach for Vertical Enrichment, the NJAC, New National Vision and Trinidad Humanity Campaign all contested three seats, whilst Tobago Forwards, the TOP and the Platform of Truth ran in two. The other parties only nominated a single candidate, including the Democratic Development Party, the Independent Democratic Party, the National Coalition for Transportation, the New Voice, the Youth Empowerment Party and the Youth, National Organisations, Farmers Unification, Policy Reformation.


2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, Campaign
The UNC, NJAC, COP and TOP again ran under the PP banner, and did not run candidates against each other.


2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, Campaign
Opposition leader Keith Rowley described the election campaign as one of the most "gruelling" in the country's history, but highlighted that the campaign had been conducted in high spirits and without violence or unrest.


2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, Results
Preliminary results on election night indicated that the PNM had won a majority government with 22 of 41 seats, but with a majority of the popular vote flowing to the ruling People's Partnership coalition. On the final count however the PNM clearly secured an absolute majority of votes cast and obtained an extra seat from the PP, winning 23 of the 41 seats. The four parties in the PP alliance received a combined 46.6% of the vote, winning the remaining eighteen seats.


2015 Tripoli, Lebanon bombings
On 10 January 2015, nine people were killed and more than 30 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowded café in Jabal Mohsen, Tripoli, Lebanon.


2015 Tripoli, Lebanon bombings, Events
After the first explosion, the second suicide bomber approached the Abu Imran café. Before he could blow himself up, 60-year-old father of seven "Abu Ali" Issa Khaddour rushed and tackled the bomber, and prevented many deaths. The wounded were taken to the hospital in Zgharta, as Jabal Mohsen residents were afraid that Sunni Islamist mobs would kill Alawite wounded if taken to a hospital in Tripoli. The dead were buried on January 12.


2015 Tripoli, Lebanon bombings, Events
The al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group Nusra Front took responsibility for the attacks, which targeted members of the Alawite sect. It was the first suicide attack on a civilian neighbourhood in nearly a year, following a security sweep that temporarily calmed the Bab al-Tabbaneh–Jabal Mohsen conflict between Sunnis and Alawites of Tripoli. Nusra claimed the attack was in revenge for the Syrian government's attacks on Sunnis in the Syrian civil war, and for a bombing of Sunni mosques that was blamed on Alawites. The interior minister of Lebanon, Nohad Machnouk, said on January 11 that the attack was carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.


2015 Tripoli, Lebanon bombings, Reaction
The US strongly condemned the attack. On January 11, the Qalamoun branch of the Nusra Front threatened to conduct more attacks against Jabal Mohsen and Hezbollah. On 10 April 2015, one of the men implicated in the bombings was killed by Lebanese security forces.


2015 Tripoli, Lebanon bombings, Reaction
A suicide bombing was also supposed to have taken place in another Jabal Mohsen café simultaneously with the 2015 Beirut bombings on November 12, but the supposed bomber was detained.


2015 Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council election
Elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) were held on 4 May 2015. 25 of the 28 elected seats in the Autonomous District Council are reserved for Scheduled Tribes.


2015 Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council election
There were 638,060 eligible votes cast in the elections. The electoral turnout stood at 83%. The votes were counted on 6 May 2015. The election result was a landslide victory for the Left Front. The Left Front, with 48.88% of the votes cast, won all 28 seats that were up for election. 25 seats went to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), one seat to the Communist Party of India, one seat to the RSP and one seat to the All India Forward Bloc.


2015 Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council election
The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) emerged as a second-largest party in the election. The party finished second in 17 seats. Other parties in the fray were the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura, National Conference of Tripura, All India Trinamool Congress and BJP.


2015 Tro-Bro Léon
The 2015 Tro-Bro Léon was the 32nd edition of the Tro-Bro Léon cycle race and was held on 19 April 2015. The race was won by Alexandre Geniez.


2015 Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio
The 2015 Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio was the 17th running of the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio, a women's bicycle race in Italy. It was the second race of the 2015 UCI Women's Road World Cup season and was held on 29 March 2015, starting and finishing in Cittiglio. The race was won by British cyclist Lizzie Armitstead in a sprint finish of 6 riders, ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Anna van der Breggen, winning the first World Cup race of the season for Boels–Dolmans.


2015 Trofeo Città di Brescia
The 2015 Trofeo Città di Brescia was a professional tennis tournament played on carpet courts. It was the second edition of the tournament which was part of the 2015 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Brescia, Italy between November 16 and November 21, 2015.


2015 Trofeo Città di Brescia, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2015 Trofeo Città di Brescia, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received into the singles main draw entry as special exempts:


2015 Trofeo Città di Brescia – Doubles
Ilija Bozoljac and Igor Zelenay won the title, defeating Mirza Bašić and Nikola Mektić in the final 6–0, 6–3 .


2015 Trofeo Città di Brescia – Singles
Igor Sijsling won the title, defeating Mirza Bašić in the final 6–4, 6–4 .


2015 Trofeo Faip–Perrel
The 2015 Trofeo Faip–Perrel was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the tenth edition of the tournament which was part of the 2015 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Bergamo, Italy between 9 and 15 February 2015.


2015 Trofeo Faip–Perrel, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2015 Trofeo Faip–Perrel, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry into the main draw as an alternate:


2015 Trofeo Faip–Perrel, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following player gained entry into the main draw via protected ranking:


2015 Trofeo Faip–Perrel – Doubles
Karol Beck and Michal Mertiňák  were the defending champions, but they did not participate this year.


2015 Trofeo Faip–Perrel – Doubles
Martin Emmrich and Andreas Siljeström won the title, defeating Błażej Koniusz and Mateusz Kowalczyk in the final, 6–4, 7–5.


2015 Trofeo Faip–Perrel – Singles
Simone Bolelli was the defending champion, but decided to play in the 2015 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament instead.


2015 Trofeo Faip–Perrel – Singles
Benoît Paire won the title defeating Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the final, 6–3, 7–6(7–3).


2015 Trofeo Laigueglia
The 2015 Trofeo Laigueglia was the 52nd edition of the Trofeo Laigueglia road cycling race. For the first time, the race was ranked as a 1.HC race by the UCI. It was part of the 2015 UCI Europe Tour and was held on 19 February 2015.


2015 Trofeo Laigueglia
The 2014 champion was José Serpa (Lampre–Merida), but he was not selected to defend his title. Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) had intended to start the race, but a stomach illness caused his withdrawal. Favourites for victory in the race included Moreno Moser and Dan Martin (both Cannondale–Garmin), Oscar Gatto (Androni Giocattoli), Damiano Cunego (Nippo–Vini Fantini) and Fabio Felline (Italy).


2015 Trofeo Laigueglia
The race was hilly throughout, with two difficult climbs in the final 10 kilometres (6 miles), including the difficult climb of Colla Micheri.


2015 Trofeo Laigueglia
The race was won by Davide Cimolai (Lampre–Merida), from a 24-man sprint. This was the third year in a row that a Lampre cyclist had won the race, following Serpa in 2014 and Filippo Pozzato in 2013. It was Cimolai's first ever professional victory.


2015 Trofeo Laigueglia, Teams
20 teams were selected to take part, including five UCI WorldTeams.


2015 Trofeo Laigueglia, Race summary
The field stayed together for the first 30 kilometres (19 miles), but a breakaway formed on the first climb of the day. Jonathan Paredes (Colombia), Nicola Gaffurini (MG.K Vis–Vega), Adriano Brogi (D'Amico–Bottecchia) and Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) built a lead that extended to approximately seven minutes. The breakaway was controlled by Lampre–Merida and the gap began to fall. Lampre–Merida were assisted by Cannondale–Garmin and Team Katusha. With 50 kilometres (31 miles) remaining, pressure from Cannondale–Garmin on one of the race's steep climbs split the peloton; the main group was reduced to 80 riders. Cousin held out alone at the head of the race, but was caught on the climb.


2015 Trofeo Laigueglia, Race summary
On the run in to the finish, Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha) attacked alone on the climb of Colla Micheri, but failed to establish a gap. He tried again on the final climb, Capo Mele, and was joined by Simone Stortoni (Androni Giocattoli) and Linus Gerdemann (Cult Energy Pro Cycling). Lampre–Merida, however, had several riders in the main group and were able to catch the breakaway and set up the sprint for Davide Cimolai. Aided in particular by Przemysław Niemiec, Cimolai won the race in a sprint ahead of Francesco Gavazzi (Southeast Pro Cycling) and Alexey Tsatevich (Team Katusha).


2015 Tromsø IL season
The 2015 season is Tromsø's first season back in the Tippeligaen following their relegation in 2013, their 28th season in the top flight of Norwegian football and their second full season with Steinar Nilsen as their manager.


2015 Tromsø IL season, Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2015 Tromsø IL season, Transfers, Winter
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2015 Tromsø IL season, Transfers, Winter
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2015 Tromsø IL season, Transfers, Summer
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2015 Tromsø IL season, Transfers, Summer
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2015 Trophée des Alpilles
The 2015 Trophée des Alpilles was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the seventh edition of the tournament which was part of the 2015 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France between 7 and 13 September 2015.


2015 Trophée des Alpilles, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw: