In the race's other classifications, Slagter's overall victory ensured that he also won the black jersey for the highest placed rider under the age of 26, while Thomas won the blue jersey for the sprints classification on the final day[4] – taking points at the intermediate sprints and the finish to displace Slagter of the jersey – to hold off Lotto–Belisol's André Greipel; Greipel won three stages during the race to surpass Robbie McEwen's previous record of most stage wins, and also picked up his 100th career victory with his final stage win.

[14][15] On his World Tour début,[16] the Australian under-23 champion Jordan Kerby launched a solo attack for the UniSA-Australia representative team in the early moments of the stage; he held a maximum lead of around seven minutes at one point during the stage,[17] but was eventually caught during the second of the finishing laps around Lobethal by Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Jérôme Pineau.

With a lead-out from Lotto–Belisol team-mates Jürgen Roelandts and Greg Henderson, André Greipel achieved a record-equalling twelfth Tour Down Under stage victory,[17] comfortably winning the sprint ahead of Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and Blanco Pro Cycling's Mark Renshaw.

The run-in towards the finish at Rostrevor was punctuated by the day's only categorised climb, the first-category Corkscrew ascent, which made its début in the race.

Gilbert would ultimately be one of twenty riders to crash on the descent from the Corkscrew, and rode to the finish with a broken derailleur,[28] losing nearly three minutes.

Several mini-attacks occurred as soon as the gradient rose, but it was not until the pre-stage favourite[26] George Bennett (RadioShack–Leopard) made his move on the climb that an attack gained ground from the main field.

Bennett caught up to Thomas on the descent, with his team-mate Ben Hermans and Javier Moreno of the Movistar Team also joining the duo.

As the most proficient sprinter of the group, Thomas waited the longest to launch his sprint and soon sped past his rivals to take the stage victory, achieving a one-second gap in the process and the ochre jersey.

With only David Tanner as a lead-out, Blanco Pro Cycling's Tom-Jelte Slagter – the young rider classification leader – moved to the front of the line, launched his sprint early,[36] and held off the rest of the group to take his first professional victory by a bike length,[34] ahead of Matthew Goss (Orica–GreenEDGE) and BMC Racing Team's Philippe Gilbert.

[44] The pair built up a lead of over three minutes during the stage, but once again, the peloton did not allow for it to climb any further, to minimise the threats to the general classification.

[45] Greipel ultimately won by a bike length,[45] ahead of Lampre–Merida's Roberto Ferrari and Jonathan Cantwell of Saxo–Tinkoff, to achieve a record-breaking thirteenth stage win at the race, surpassing Robbie McEwen's previous record of twelve.

It was expected that the finish would be contested between a small group,[52] and that the climb would crown the overall winner of the race, ahead of the final stage criterium in Adelaide.

[54] With de Kort being 2' 52" behind the overall leader Geraint Thomas (Team Sky), the peloton did not allow for a substantial lead to be accumulated, as the maximum time gap that the breakaway established was around four-and-a-half minutes at the midway point of the stage.

[54] Blanco Pro Cycling were prominent on the front of the group in the hope of trying to move Tom-Jelte Slagter, the young rider classification leader and second to Thomas overall, into the ochre jersey ahead of the final stage.

However, they were caught on the climb to the finish, which sparked several counter-moves in the peloton; Edvald Boasson Hagen was setting the pace for Thomas,[57] with Slagter just behind, as Moreno attacked with 1.7 km (1.1 mi) remaining.

[58] Slagter and Gerrans ultimately contested a two-man sprint for the line which Gerrans narrowly won – avenging a narrow defeat to Alejandro Valverde in 2012[59] – while Slagter's second-place finish allowed him to take the ochre jersey ahead of Moreno,[55] who finished the stage third, and claimed the mountains classification lead.

[66] He was followed across the line by Mark Renshaw of the Blanco Pro Cycling team and Boasson Hagen completed a strong day for himself with third place.

[67] A small time gap also allowed him to finish third overall, with Euskaltel–Euskadi's Jon Izagirre also moving ahead of RadioShack–Leopard rider Ben Hermans in the final standings.

For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, the leader received an ochre jersey.