The 2015 Circuit de la Sarthe (full name 2015 Circuit Cyclist Sarthe–Pays de Loire) was the 63rd edition of the

Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Hou ...

cycling

stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages ...

. It was run in the

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the ''Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It had ...

department between 7 and 10 April 2015 and consisted of five stages, two of which took place on the same day. It was rated as a

2.1 The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body in the sport of bicycle racing, classifies races according to a rating scale. The rating is represented by a code made of two or three parts and indicates both the type or style ...

event on the

2015 UCI Europe Tour The 2015 UCI Europe Tour was the eleventh season of the UCI Europe Tour. The 2015 season began on 29 January 2015 with the Vuelta a Mallorca, Trofeo Santanyí-Ses Salines-Campos and ended on 25 October 2015 with the Tour of Aegean. The points le ...

. The race was won by the defending champion,

Ramūnas Navardauskas Ramūnas Navardauskas (born 30 January 1988) is a Lithuanian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Continental team . He has also competed professionally for the , and teams. Career After four years in the amateur ranks, Navard ...

(). Navardauskas won the race by one second ahead of

Manuele Boaro Manuele Boaro (born 12 March 1987) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Born in Bassano del Grappa, Boaro competed for U.C. Giorgione Aliseo as a junior, and and as an amateur. Boaro joined pr ...

(), thanks to six seconds won on the final stage at intermediate sprints.

Schedule

The race consisted of five stages. Two of these took place on the same day, with a short road stage in the morning and an

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-b ...

in the afternoon. The three flat stages were seen as opportunities for sprinters such as

Nacer Bouhanni Nacer Bouhanni (born 25 July 1990) is a French professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . A sprinter, he was the winner of the 2012 French National Road Race Championships. Although his first Grand Tour was in 2012, his r ...

(), who was without a victory to that point in 2015, while the time trial and the summit finish were expected to decide the general classification.

Stages

Stage 1

;7 April 2015 —

Sablé-sur-Sarthe Sablé-sur-Sarthe (, literally ''Sablé on Sarthe''), commonly referred to as Sablé, is a commune in the Sarthe department, in the Pays de la Loire region, western France. It is about 50 km northeast of Angers. Population Geography The Va ...

to Varades,

Stage 2a

;8 April 2015 — Varades to

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

Stage 2b

;8 April 2015 — Angers to Angers, ,

(ITT)

Stage 3

;9 April 2015 — Angers to Pré-en-Pail,

Stage 4

;10 April 2015 —

L'Épau Abbey L'Épau Abbey (french: Abbaye de l'Épau) is a former Cistercian abbey founded by the English queen Berengaria of Navarre in 1229. It is located on the outskirts of the city of Le Mans, on the left bank of the Huisne, adjoining the town of Yv ...

Le Lude Le Lude () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire, northwestern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Dissé-sous-le-Lude was merged into Le Lude.Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Hou ...

Circuit de la Sarthe (cycling)