Although starting and finishing at relatively the same height above sea level, the stage had a small hill – the western flank of Monte Brè – around midway through the 7.3 km (4.5 mi) parcours, being used in the race for the second year in succession,[14] after then-world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara won the stage in a time of 9' 41" in 2011.

[20] The race's second stage started across the Swiss border, in the Italian city of Verbania on the shores of Lake Maggiore.

[22] The parcours featured two categorised climbs during its 218.3 km (135.6 mi) itinerary; of which both were rated as hors catégorie and both came as the race returned to Swiss soil.

The former team's Alessandro Bazzana was the instigator as soon as the race left Verbania, and was later joined by Ryan Anderson as the two riders quickly set up an advantage over the main field.

Sagan also took maximum points at the following intermediate sprint several kilometres later in Sembrancher, which also gave him six bonus seconds towards the general classification.

Gerdemann's team-mate Fränk Schleck – the winner of the race in 2010 – was next to attack, and gathered more ground than what ten Dam achieved, with no immediate reaction from the main field.

Costa caught, passed and gapped Schleck in the closing metres, eventually taking the stage victory by four seconds,[23][26] with Mikel Nieve third for Euskaltel–Euskadi.

However, a three-rider move was allowed to be initiated after 3 km (1.9 mi), with Ag2r–La Mondiale's Guillaume Bonnafond, Team Saxo Bank rider Michael Mørkøv and Jonas Vangenechten of Lotto–Belisol all breaking free,[30][31] with Bonnafond being best-placed at over nine minutes down on race leader Rui Costa of the Movistar Team.

Vangenechten dropped back at Frienisberg, while Mørkøv and Bonnafond managed to resist capture until inside the final kilometre, which ultimately set up the bunch sprint.

[30] The sprint itself was won by Liquigas–Cannondale's Peter Sagan for his tenth victory of the season,[34] ahead of Orica–GreenEDGE's Baden Cooke and Team Sky rider Ben Swift.

Having descended from the climb, the race went over several small hills before entering a 42.3 km (26.3 mi) finishing circuit around the towns of Trimbach and Olten.

Lodewyck was the first to launch an attack halfway around the finishing circuit, and was closed down by Isaichev who brought the rest of the group back up to him.

[47] On the second climb of the Kaistenberg, Lodewyck was dropped – due to being physically "broken"[49] – as Pérez pushed the tempo higher, making two attacks off the front but Isaichev closed him down on both occasions.

Minard, Pérez and Oss were slightly clear as they passed under the flamme rouge indicating 1 km (0.6 mi) to go, but Isaichev, Kroon and Puccio pulled back up to the other trio and the six battled it out for the stage victory.

[47] Isaichev attacked with 250 m (820 ft) to go and held off his rivals to the line, taking the first victory of his professional career – as well as the lead of the mountains competition[50] – ahead of Pérez and Puccio.

[51] Viviani led the main field across the line over eleven minutes down in eighth place, with Costa maintaining his 8-second overall lead for another day.

[52] A five-rider breakaway was formed around 30 km (18.6 mi) into the stage, consisting of Ag2r–La Mondiale's Matteo Montaguti, Team Saxo Bank rider Troels Vinther, Baden Cooke of Orica–GreenEDGE, Vicente Reynès (Lotto–Belisol) and home rider Rubens Bertogliati representing Team Type 1–Sanofi.

[55] Unlike most individual time trials, race organisers created a hilly and technical parcours with several climbs located within its scheduled 34.3 km (21.3 mi) distance.

Thus, Fréderique Robert of Lotto–Belisol, who, in 148th place,[54] trailed overall leader Rui Costa (Movistar Team) by fifty-two minutes and forty-five seconds, was the first rider to set off on the stage.

Having passed Grega Bole of Lampre–ISD before the finish, Nikita Novikov lowered the benchmark to below 50 minutes, as the Vacansoleil–DCM rider recorded a time of 49' 22" for the course.

[60] Orica–GreenEDGE rider Stuart O'Grady got closest to Novikov's time, finishing a second off,[60] before it was eventually beaten by Fabian Cancellara, riding for the RadioShack–Nissan team.

[65] Having reached the town of Altstätten, the roads levelled out and the succeeding 70 km (43.5 mi) was relatively flat before the uphill finish to Arosa, incorporating two categorised climbs.

[65] Four riders – Peter Velits of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, Orica–GreenEDGE rider Michael Albasini, Garmin–Barracuda's Thomas Dekker and Rémi Cusin (Team Type 1–Sanofi) – went clear around 15 km (9.3 mi) into the stage,[66] making the early breakaway from the field, and the duo managed to extend their advantage over the main field to around seven minutes, at the halfway point of the stage.

[67] Albasini and Velits increased their pace at the front of the field, which split the lead quartet apart, as Dekker and Cusin could not sustain the accelerated tempo.

[72] Mini-attacks set the course of the early running of the stage, with the field remaining as a whole for the first hour of racing after the attacks were closed down within minutes.

A group of five riders – FDJ–BigMat rider Jérémy Roy, Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil–DCM), Brent Bookwalter of BMC Racing Team, Astana's Tanel Kangert and Matteo Montaguti, representing the Ag2r–La Mondiale team[75] – were allowed to break free from the confines of the peloton, and soon gained a lead in excess of twelve minutes on the road,[76] in effect putting Kangert into the race lead if they had managed to maintain such an advantage to the end of the stage.

[76] The pace was maintained all the way until after the Glaubenbielen, where Schleck primed himself for an attack, and eventually did so on the Glaubenberg,[77] countering a move by Euskaltel–Euskadi's Mikel Nieve, who had been fifth overnight.