[12] Euskaltel–Euskadi and Astana came to the front of the peloton towards the midpoint of the stage; making their move on the Alto del Suceso, another categorised climb with de la Fuente taking the maximum points on offer.

On the final climb of the day, the Alto de San Comse, a crash in the pack delayed several riders, with the peloton momentarily stalling the pace in the mayhem.

Heavy rain greeted the riders at the start of the stage, with an early climb of the third-category Alto de San Cosme coming after just 4 km (2.5 mi) of the parcours.

[17] It was on the descent from the climb that the primary breakaway of the stage began to form; Jérôme Pineau of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step went clear with FDJ–BigMat's Thibaut Pinot and Team Saxo Bank rider Mads Christensen.

[18] The trio were later joined by another pair of riders – representing the wildcard teams in the race, Utensilnord–Named and Caja Rural – as Gabriele Bosisio and Julián Sánchez both ventured off the front of the peloton, eventually catching up with the breakaway after 32 km (19.9 mi).

[17] As such, Movistar Team were driving the pace on the front of the main pack, in order to keep within a suitable distance of the five leaders; the gap at that point was around the seven-minute mark.

Also part of the move were Pinot's team-mate Anthony Roux, Astana's Alexsandr Dyachenko, Team Katusha rider Eduard Vorganov and Dominik Nerz of Liquigas–Cannondale.

As it transpired, an opportune move by Daryl Impey at the flamme rouge proved fruitful, and he managed to stay clear of the ever-closing pack to take his first victory for GreenEDGE, and the team's seventh of the year.

[19] Team-mate Allan Davis, like Impey,[20] crossed the line arms aloft in second place ahead of Team Sky's Davide Appollonio and Rojas, who maintained his overall lead.

The Usartza featured for the third successive year; Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel–Euskadi) was the rider in which most observers deemed to be the favourite for the stage, as he had won each of the previous two finishes to be held in Eibar.

The pair were joined by FDJ–BigMat's Jussi Veikkanen, Movistar Team rider José Herrada and Antonio Piedra of Caja Rural, eventually gaining an overall advantage of five-and-a-half minutes over the peloton.

[23] Team Katusha were prominent in attempting to break away from the main field, utilising Alberto Losada, Giampaolo Caruso and Ángel Vicioso in a bid to get clear ahead of the finish.

[25] Caruso and Vicioso closed in on the leaders out front, passing Christensen on the road before eventually catching Herrada with 20 km (12.4 mi) remaining of the parcours; however their advantage over the main pack had dwindled considerably as the trio were less than a minute clear of the peloton, led by Euskaltel–Euskadi for their captain, Sánchez.

[citation needed] Euskaltel–Euskadi were keeping their riders towards the front of the field in support of their team captain, and the overall race leader Samuel Sánchez; in effect, stopping the breakaway from getting too far clear on the stage, and were less than two minutes behind at the second climb of the day, the Alto de Aritxulegi.

[32] Wesley Sulzberger made his third attack of the race from the break for GreenEDGE, and was joined by team-mate Simon Clarke as they looked to bridge up to the breakaway; the pair caught García on the descent,[33] after he had been dropped by his four companions.

With the climb of the Alto de Agiña coming several kilometres later on the parcours, fresher legs for Sulzberger and Clarke told as they brought themselves, and Garciá, up to the breakaway and reforming the move as a seven-man group.

[41] The breakaway's advantage continued to diminish and not long after the next categorised climb, the Alto de Descarga where Ulissi had led them across the summit, the move was thwarted as the peloton caught them.

A counter-attack of nine riders immediately acted,[42] including Robert Kišerlovski (Astana) who commenced the stage in fourth place in the general classification, trailing overnight leader Joaquim Rodríguez of Team Katusha by just 24 seconds.

On the parcours were three steep climbs, made tougher due to the continued unsettled weather conditions in the Basque country; damp roads greeted the riders, and the stage favourite Tony Martin – the world time trial champion – riding for the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team crashed during a reconnaissance overview of the course.

Thus, Travis Meyer of GreenEDGE, who, in 122nd place,[43] trailed overall leader Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) by one hour, three minutes and forty-four seconds, was the first rider to set off on the final stage.