The first stage of the race was won by Lars Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) in a sprint from a small group.

The race was first discussed publicly in July 2014, after the first stages of the Tour de France that took place in Yorkshire.

[2] On 22 December 2014, the start and finish locations for the event were released, these were Bridlington, Leeds, Scarborough, Selby, Wakefield and York.

It included several roads and climbs that had been part of the second stage of the 2014 Tour de France between York and Sheffield.

Wiggins was controversially not selected for Team Sky in the previous year's Tour de France; the race organisers expected his presence in the Tour de Yorkshire to be one of the principal attractions for British cycling fans.

The second stage appeared most likely to end in a sprint, with Marcel Kittel (Team Giant–Alpecin) the favourite to take victory, although he had suffered an illness and had not raced since the Tour of Qatar in February.

Other prominent sprinters included Swift and Hofland, as well as Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling), Rick Zabel (BMC Racing Team), Gerald Ciolek (MTN–Qhubeka) and Steele Von Hoff (NFTO).

Initially this kept them along the coast, but soon took them into the North York Moors, where the first climb was the Côte de Dalby Forest.

The route turned north, back onto the Moors, where they reached the Côte de Rosedale Abbey after 92 kilometres (57 miles).

Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) described the stage as "much tougher than we thought" due to the small roads.

Team Sky were riding at the front of the peloton, but their riders Ben Swift and Ian Boswell, and Dunbar crashed.

Dunbar suffered a broken clavicle and Swift a shoulder injury: both were forced to abandon the race.

Philip Deignan (Team Sky) rode hard on the climb, with only Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis), Samuel Sánchez (BMC Racing Team), Voeckler, and Deignan's teammate Lars Petter Nordhaug able to follow him.

The peloton was more than a minute behind; the sprint was won by Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team).

The stage began with an 8.2-kilometre (5.1-mile) neutralised section, which included a loop around the town centre; the racing started as the riders headed east for 25 kilometres (16 miles) towards Market Weighton.

Immediately after the intermediate sprint came the second climb of the day, the Côte de Fimber (1.1 kilometres (0.68 miles) at 6.2%).

This included Philip Deignan (Team Sky), who had been in the winning break in the first stage and was 10 seconds off the race lead.

The break's lead was nearly seven minutes with 78.5 kilometres (48.8 miles) remaining; Team Sky and IAM Cycling began chasing hard and reduced the gap sharply; the breakaway had less than two minutes' lead as they entered the laps around York.

[23] The breakaway split up; McNally and De Backer remained alone in the lead with 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) left.

De Backer continued alone; he was briefly joined by Loïc Chetout (Cofidis) but the pair were unable to stay away from the chasing pack.

Although he appeared to have a lead large enough to secure the stage victory, he ran out of energy shortly before the line and was caught by the sprinters.

[26] The day's main breakaway was formed by Lawson Craddock (Team Giant–Alpecin), Sondre Holst Enger (IAM Cycling), Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (MTN–Qhubeka), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), James McLaughlin (Madison Genesis), Ian Bibby (NFTO and Rasmus Quaade (Cult Energy Pro Cycling).

Bibby won the first three climbs of the day; the group then split apart on the Côte de Goose Eye.

On the uncategorised climb leading up to the final sprint of the day, Craddock dropped Edet and continued alone.

The final attack of the day came from Ben Hermans (BMC Racing Team) with approximately 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) to the finish line.

He caught and passed Craddock 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) later; meanwhile Team Sky led the group without making any particular effort to chase Hermans down.

The rider with the lowest cumulative time after taking bonus seconds into account was the leader of the classification and was awarded a blue and yellow – colours traditionally associated with Yorkshire – jersey.

This was a combativity prize and was to be awarded to the rider who "made the greatest effort and [...] demonstrated the best qualities in terms of sportsmanship".