Chris Froome gives the thumbs up to the crowd (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Simon Geschke celebrates his first Tour de France stage win in Pra Loup (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Tejay van Garderen was third overall when he cracked on stage 17 and abandoned (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Vincenzo Nibali clawed back some time on stage 16 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Ruben Plaza wins stage 16 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Andre Greipel notched up another win in Valence on stage 15 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Stephen Cummings gives MTN-Qhubeka the stage win in Mende on Mandela day (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Chris Froome puts more time into his competitors in Mende (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Greg van Avermaet relegates Peter Sagan to another second place (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Romain Bardet can't believe he won stage 18 to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The many turns of the Lacets de Montvernier (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde go on the attack (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The final podium of the 2015 Tour de France (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Andre Greipel made it four stage wins (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Chris Froome with his Sky team in Paris (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The chaos on Alpe d'Huez (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Nairo Quintana held onto second overall (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Thibaut Pinot made up for a bad start to the Tour by winning stage 20 on Alpe d'Huez (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Vincezo Nibali scored a morale-boosting win on stage 19 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Chris Froome had a near crash on stage 19, but recovered. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Jean-Christophe Peraud had a nasty crash on stage 13 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodriguez was pretty happy on the podium (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Tony Martin donned the maillot jaune after winning the cobbled stage 4 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Tony Martin solos to victory on stage 4 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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The organisers stopped stage 3 of the Tour de France after a series of crashes (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Riders try to figure out why the race was stopped - it was because a massive crash left them without medical support (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Joaquim Rodriguez shows he still has it on the Mur de Huy (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Andre Greipel denied Peter Sagan on stage 2 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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The echelons were critical on stage 2 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Rohan Dennis donned the first maillot jaune (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Vincenzo Nibali couldn't make a difference on the cobbles (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Thibaut Pinot picks himself up after a crash on stage 5 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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Tony Martin crashed in sight of the finish on stage 6 and abandoned with a collarbone break (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Joaquim Rodriguez claimed a second victory on stage 12 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Chris Froome put the hammer down on the first mountain stage (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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BMC celebrates its win in the TTT (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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The Eritrean fans were out in force to support MTN-Qhubeka (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Alexis Vuillermoz wins on the Mur de Bretagne (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Mark Cavendish got his only win on stage 7 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Daniel Teklehaimanot gave MTN-Qhubeka its first success with the polka dot jersey (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Zdenek Stybar wins stage 6 unaware of Martin's crash (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
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Riders arrived by boat for the presentation in Utrecht (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Claudio Chiappucci might believe that the peloton is filled with dull, character-less machines who are only concerned with numbers and only follow wheels, but we think this year's Tour de France offered up a rich spectrum of personalities in addition to Peter Sagan, and plenty of exciting racing.
Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) was the focus of much of the Tour's Utrecht Grand Depart, as the home fans hoped for their man to claim the first maillot jaune, but instead it was Australian Rohan Dennis in the lead after a blazing fast opening time trial.
Crosswinds ripped the race to shreds on the next day, and a number of pre-race favourites lost time, including Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali. André Greipel launched what would be a string of four stage victories, and Fabian Cancellara claimed the race lead. But the next stage to the Mur de Huy saw a massive pile-up that left Cancellara with fractures in his back.
The race organisation made the unprecedented decision to halt the racing because all of the medical staff were occupied with crash victims. In the end, the confusion cleared, and Joaquim Rodriguez won the stage over Chris Froome. Cancellara struggled to the finish well behind the race, and Froome took over the race lead.
The drama continued the next day on the cobbles, with Tony Martin overcoming his one second deficit with a solo stage win and finally pulling on the yellow sweater after three stages of being in second place overall. But his luck ran out on stage 6 when a touch of wheels amongst the main GC favourites caused Martin to crash in sight of the finish. His teammate Zdenek Stybar won the stage with no idea that behind, the race leader was being pushed to the finish by the team, his collarbone broken.
Mark Cavendish made up for the bad luck by winning another stage for the team the following day, while Froome assumed the race lead and would not relinquish it until Paris.
Froome put the nail in the coffin of the GC fight on the first big mountain stage, but even though the overall race win grew more and more out of the reach of anyone else in the remaining stages, there were a number of emotional, notable stage winners.
Greg van Avermaet (BMC) overcame his history of second places and topped Peter Sagan for the stage in Rodez. Stephen Cummings gave MTN-Qhubeka a huge victory in Mende on Nelson Mandela day, denying Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot a chance, but both would have their day in the final week.
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) finally came good in the last stages, and even though he was eight minutes down on GC, the stage win in La Toussuire - Les Sybelles was done with true panache.
Relive all of the stages with this gallery of images from the 2015 Tour de France.
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