[5] The winner of the 2012 Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins, participated in the race, alongside 2011 World Champion Mark Cavendish for Team Sky.

[12] The breakaway, which had an advantage of seven minutes over the field at one point during the stage, was caught with around 10 km (6.2 mi) remaining, which was expected set up a sprint finish at the Royal Norfolk Showground.

[13] However, a large crash with around 2 km (1.2 mi) remaining delayed a large portion of the peloton, leaving few riders to contest the final sprint; Team Sky rider Luke Rowe prevailed to take his first professional victory ahead of Clarke's team-mate Boy Van Poppel and Endura Racing's Russell Downing.

After the sprint point, there were three successive first-category climbs on the 180.7 km (112.3 mi) parcours, coming at Cross o' th' Hands, Alstonefield and finally Morridge.

The two final sprint points were at Chelford and Culcheth with the stage finishing, for the first time, at Knowsley Safari Park on the outskirts of Liverpool.

There were several late-stage attacks from riders representing the domestic teams, but it was ultimately a sprint finish within the safari park for the stage honours.

Team Sky were on the front with race leader Luke Rowe leading out Cavendish, but the pair became separated in the closing stages, allowing Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare) and Bobridge's team-mate Leigh Howard into space.

The peloton had given them a maximum advantage of four minutes during the stage, before gradually pulling them back, being led by the UnitedHealthcare team of race leader Boy Van Poppel.

Hawkins and Kreder left their breakaway companions behind on the finishing loop around Dumfries, while Garmin–Sharp rider Sep Vanmarcke attacked out of the peloton to join up with the two leaders around 10 km (6.2 mi) later.

With a lead-out from opening stage winner Luke Rowe,[29] Cavendish took victory in Dumfries for the second consecutive year, ahead of Orica–GreenEDGE pairing Leigh Howard and Aidis Kruopis.

House and Gustavsson were initially dropped, while in the peloton, echelons were formed with 25 km (15.5 mi), reducing the group to twenty-seven riders in depth.

This ultimately set up a reduced sprint finish, where Team Sky rider Mark Cavendish won for the second day running, ahead of Australian pair Steele Von Hoff (Garmin–Sharp) and race leader Leigh Howard of Orica–GreenEDGE.

Thirteen of the race's seventeen teams were represented in the group, including four members – Howard, Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare) and Garmin–Sharp pairing Sep Vanmarcke and Nathan Haas – of the overnight top ten in the general classification.

[45] In the lead group, Paul Voss (Endura Racing) misjudged a right-hand turn with 9 km (5.6 mi), with Marc de Maar of UnitedHealthcare and Saur–Sojasun rider Jérémie Galland also hitting the tarmac as a result.

De Maar, having returned to the group after his fall, went on the attack with 6.5 km (4.0 mi) and was not brought back as the Curaçao national champion soloed to his first victory of the year by fifteen seconds.

[63] Their group eventually finished 46 seconds down on the stage-winning group of four riders,[64] who had remained out front from the breakaway; Pablo Urtasun took his first win of the season for Euskaltel–Euskadi ahead of fifth stage winner Marc de Maar (UnitedHealthcare), Caruso's team-mate Ivan Basso and team-mate of Urtasun, Samuel Sánchez.

Bobridge attacked on his own with 30 km (18.6 mi) remaining of the stage,[69] pulling clear by around half a minute before Team Sky set up station on the front of the peloton to keep Mark Cavendish out of trouble ahead of a likely sprint finish.

After Bobridge was caught, three other riders tried solo attacks on the run-in to Guildford without success; setting up the sprint finish, Luke Rowe led it out for Cavendish again,[70] and Cavendish won the sprint – for his third win of the race[71] – by several bike lengths ahead of UnitedHealthcare's Boy Van Poppel, who secured the points classification on the line.