They claimed the intermediate sprints and the first two climbs, putting Samuel Dumoulin and Lloyd Mondory, respectively, in the leading jerseys for those classifications.

[7] 20 May 2009 – Roses to La Pobla de Lillet, 182.8 km This was a mountainous stage, and it was thought to see a definitive split between those riders who aimed for the final podium and those who didn't.

After the peloton, paced by his team Caisse d'Epargne, caught the morning's breakaway, Valverde himself attacked at the foot of the day's last climb, and the group of nine GC contenders who were able to hold his wheel contested the finish together.

[9] 21 May 2009 – La Pobla de Lillet to Vallnord Sector Pal (Andorra), 175.7 km This stage was undulating at first, and then became mountainous.

While the others were absorbed before the Vallnord climb, Sánchez still had a 90-second lead at its foot and managed to stay away just long enough, giving victory in the queen stage of this UCI ProTour event to a non-ProTour team.

The GC favorites who had otherwise dominated on the climb were within a kilometer of Sánchez at the finish, with Dan Martin coming the closest to catching him, for second on the stage and a slight time again against race leader Alejandro Valverde.

[12] 22 May 2009 – La Seu d'Urgell to Torredembarra, 201.3 km A fair amount of descending faced the riders in this stage, being that it began at 670 meters in elevation and ended near sea level.

Their maximum advantage was 4' 30", with Steven Cozza attacking and staying out front for a short while as the peloton absorbed his three breakaway mates.

[14] 23 May 2009 – Torredembarra to Barcelona, 150.5 km This stage was expected to end in a mass sprint, in spite of the three categorized climbs the course featured.

The lead in the mountains classification transferred to Julián Sánchez, who was tied with Xavier Tondó by points, but got the jersey because of his victory on the outside categorization climb in Stage 4.

Sánchez managed to outsprint Tondó to the summit of the climb to clinch the red jersey victory for the Contentpolis rider.