[5] Paul Voss of Team Milram was the unexpected winner of the stage, beating out Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden.

Another category-two climb, the Alt de la Josa del Cadí, followed before a 26 km (16 mi) long descent to the finish line.

This group at one point had a three-minute advantage on the main field, but the steady tempo that Liquigas–Doimo and Team RadioShack were drilling out reduced the gap.

Pereiro quickly dropped back, as they had at this point reached the hardest parts of the Alt de la Josa del Cadí climb, but Tondó and Rodríguez stayed away to the finish.

They were later reduced to four – Vladimir Efimkin, Thibaut Pinot, Francesco Bellotti, and Jurgen Van De Walle.

During the Alt de Paumeres climb, Jens Voigt, who had earlier been dropped from the peloton, made a solo bridge to the four leaders.

Taaramäe did most of the pace making in the final flat section, since he started on the seventh day in the overall standings and stood to gain more than Voigt, from having such a big time gap as possible on the peloton.

Since Malacarne, 29 minutes behind race leader Joaquim Rodríguez, was the best-placed man in the group, the peloton was content to let them go.

The lead fell a little on the day's second climb, the Alt de Porrera, as Team Katusha and Liquigas–Doimo started an aggressive chase.

The second half is mostly flat, concluding with a three-lap circuit in Barcelona that includes a visit to a small third-category climb on each lap.

Cofidis' Samuel Dumoulin was easily the strongest sprinter in the group and won the stage, giving his team its 12th win of the season.

His teammate Rein Taaramäe was second on the stage, the two of them securing their high places on a day when the financial services provider Cofidis decided to continue sponsoring the team for two more seasons.

There was again no change to the overall standings after this stage; Joaquim Rodríguez, Xavier Tondó, and Rein Taaramäe finished on the event's final podium.

For the general classification, calculated by adding the finishing times of the stages per cyclist, the leader received a white jersey with green stripes on the sleeves.