Originally admitted to the event as a wildcard, Team Katusha subsequently regained their ProTour status after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Stefano Garzelli (2010),[17] Cadel Evans (2011),[18] and Vincenzo Nibali (2012) were all leaders of their respective squads Vini Fantini–Selle Italia, BMC Racing Team and Astana.

[28] Kwiatkowski was also part of the train at the finish – as well as Terpstra and Zdeněk Štybar – and thus was the best placed rider under the age of 25, and was entitled to wear the first white jersey.

Of the overall contenders, defending champion Vincenzo Nibali and his Astana squad were best positioned in fifth place, trailing Omega Pharma–Quick-Step by exactly twenty seconds.

However, like the previous day's team time trial, rain was expected to factor into the riding conditions, especially for the finish, which included a railway overpass around 1.2 km (0.7 mi) from the line.

Race leader Mark Cavendish, the winner in Indicatore in 2012,[35] was able to gain a second at the first intermediate sprint, to establish a virtual one-second lead on the road.

On the penultimate lap, Blanco Pro Cycling's Sep Vanmarcke tried to establish a solo move in the heavy rain that had been falling for most of the stage, but was caught by the main field after several kilometres off the front.

[32] Lotto–Belisol led the sprint out in the closing metres for André Greipel, but first Sagan and then Orica–GreenEDGE's Matthew Goss both came past him, with Goss ultimately taking the stage win on the line – his first win of the season[36] – ahead of Ag2r–La Mondiale's Manuel Belletti and Gerald Ciolek, riding for World Tour débutants MTN–Qhubeka.

[42] The trio quickly established an advantage over the main field, which they extended to around nine minutes before the climb at Todi, where Benedetti was able to take the green jersey from Bravo.

[42] As wet conditions hit the race once again, several mini-attacks occurred on the run-in to the finish, with Blanco Pro Cycling's Lars Boom heading onto the final circuit with a small lead over the peloton.

Matthew Goss, in the red jersey for points classification leader, for Orica–GreenEDGE launched his sprint first, but Gerald Ciolek (MTN–Qhubeka) came past him on the outside,[43] before fading.

[50] Omega Pharma–Quick-Step and the BMC Racing Team moved to the front of the peloton behind, keeping their respective protected riders out of danger, prior to the final climb.

[51] He held a lead of around 45 seconds with 9 km (5.6 mi) remaining,[50] as Team Sky led the chase in the peloton with five riders on the front, protecting Chris Froome, who was one of the favourites for the stage.

Marczyński was caught not long after, with Team Sky's pace reducing numbers in the peloton drastically, with Cadel Evans, Joaquim Rodríguez and Roman Kreuziger among those dropped.

Saxo–Tinkoff rider Alberto Contador tried several times to get clear, and at one point, had formed a group with Nibali and Failli's team-mate Mauro Santambrogio.

[51] Froome was able to get back to them with assistance from RadioShack–Leopard's Chris Horner,[52] and countered over the top of the group, and soloed away to a six-second margin of victory,[53] ahead of Santambrogio who finished second, with Nibali in third.

After a lumpy parcours out of the start town of Ortona,[56] the riders had to wait some 90 km (55.9 mi) for the first of three categorised climbs on the day.

After a substantial descent, the riders headed towards the second climb via the first of two intermediate sprint points at Lettomanoppello, before the steep Passo Lanciano.

Cunego's solo move was ultimately unsuccessful, as he was the last member of the breakaway to be brought back by the peloton with around 7 km (4.3 mi) remaining.

[60] Team Sky's pace on the front was reducing numbers in the peloton, with 2012 Chieti winner Peter Sagan (Cannondale) being dropped.

[57] A group of five riders came across the line eight seconds in arrears, with Chris Froome (Team Sky) among them, to take the leader's blue jersey from Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Michał Kwiatkowski.

With around 50 km (31.1 mi) remaining, Argos–Shimano's Tom Dumoulin and Damiano Cunego of Lampre–Merida attacked out of the lead group, hitting the climb in Sant'Elpidio a Mare off the front.

Sagan was ultimately strongest for the finish, taking his second stage victory of the week, and further adding to his favourite tag for Milan–San Remo.

[73] Tirreno–Adriatico ended with an individual time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto for the third successive year, with the Marche city playing host to a perfectly flat out-and-back ride right along the Adriatic coast; it was held on the largely the same course as the 2011 and 2012 editions – although 100 m (330 ft) shorter in 2013 – won on both occasions by Fabian Cancellara, winning in times of 10' 33" and 10' 36" respectively.

Thus, Martin Velits of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, who, in 108th place, trailed overall leader Nibali by one hour, fifteen minutes and thirty-eight seconds, was the first rider to set off on the final stage.

[79] Team Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez recorded a time of 11' 08" for the course,[80] but was not good enough to remain ahead of Contador and Kwiatkowski,[79] missing the podium by two seconds, leaving him disappointed.