The race was won for the second successive year by German rider Tony Martin, riding for the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team.

Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen completed the podium, 6 seconds behind Gavazzi and 46 down on Martin, and also won the points classification for the most consistent finisher on the stages over the race.

[16] The quintet manage to form an advantage of around two minutes, with the main field keeping the gap in check for most of the day.

[8] Prior to the start of the stage, it emerged that one of the race's competitors – Ag2r–La Mondiale rider Steve Houanard – had tested positive for the glycoprotein hormone erythropoietin (EPO), a performance-enhancing drug, in an out of competition doping test and was asked to leave the race after being suspended by the Union Cycliste Internationale.

[32] Smog would also play a part in the stage's proceedings; after two previously clear days during the race, hazy conditions greeted the riders ahead of the start.

[30] The group gained a maximum advantage of about four-and-a-half minutes before the likes of Liquigas–Cannondale and Garmin–Sharp sent riders to the front of the peloton to bring the gap down.

Sylvain Georges (Ag2r–La Mondiale) launched an attack to try to get clear,[35] but Team Sky – aiding with the pace at the front of the main group – closed him down before he could establish a sizable advantage.

Defending mountains classification winner Igor Antón (Euskaltel–Euskadi) was the next rider to try but he too was thwarted before the attack could fully materialise.

[35] Instead, Team Sky's all-rounder Edvald Boasson Hagen attacked with 3.5 km (2.2 mi) remaining,[36] and held a near 20-second lead into the final kilometre,[34] but was closed down in the final metres, with Astana's Francesco Gavazzi taking his first victory for the team and his first since winning a stage of the 2011 Vuelta a España.

[43] As a result, this eventually set up a bunch sprint that was won by Kritskiy's team-mate Marco Haller, a neo-pro, who achieved his first professional victory on the line.

[48] After that, a twelve-rider move got clear of the main field but the peloton failed to let them gain a substantial advantage over them; the maximum gap that the group acquired was around two minutes.