2015 E3 Harelbeke
| 2015 UCI World Tour, race 6 of 28 | |||||||||||||
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| Race details | |||||||||||||
| Dates | 27 March 2015 | ||||||||||||
| Stages | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Distance | 215.3 km (133.8 mi) | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 5hr 15' 00" | ||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||
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| Winner |
 Geraint Thomas (GBR)
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(Team Sky) | |
| Second |
 Zdeněk Štybar (CZE)
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(Etixx–Quick-Step) | |
| Third |
 Matteo Trentin (ITA)
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(Etixx–Quick-Step) |
The 2015 E3 Harelbeke was the 58th edition of the E3 Harelbeke cycling race. It took place on 27 March and was the sixth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The defending champion was Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), who won the 2014 edition in a four-man sprint. The race, while important in its own right as part of the spring classics season, is seen as an important part of riders' preparation for 2015 Tour of Flanders, one of the cycling monuments that takes place on many of the same roads the following week.
The E3 Harelbeke takes place on roads in Flanders, starting and ending in the town of Harelbeke. The primary difficulty in the race is the series of short climbs known as hellingen, some of which are cobbled; most of these came in the middle part of the race, with a fairly flat final part.
The key move of the race was made on the Oude Kwaremont by Geraint Thomas (Team Sky), Zdeněk Štybar (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Peter Sagan. The three riders rode together for over 30 kilometres (19 mi), maintaining a gap to the chasing peloton. With approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) remaining, Thomas attacked and was able to take a solo victory. He became the first British rider to win the race. Štybar chased and was able to take second place, but Sagan was caught by the main peloton. Štybar's teammate Matteo Trentin won the bunch sprint for third place.
The other major feature of the race was a succession of crashes. Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL–Jumbo) slipped on the Paterberg, though this resulted in nothing worse than a broken shoe; however, a major crash early in the race caused significant problems for a number of riders. The worst affected was Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), one of the major favourites for victory; he broke two vertebrae, ruling him out of the remainder of the classics season.
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