[1] Last years champion, Mara Abbott, sought to defend her title riding for the UnitedHealthcare team.

[2] Other highly regarded competitors included; British National Time Trial Champion Emma Pooley (Lotto–Belisol Ladies), Olympic and World Road Race Champion Marianne Vos (Rabo–Liv), current World Time Trial Champion Ellen van Dijk (Boels–Dolmans), Evelyn Stevens (Specialized–lululemon), Alena Amialiusik (Astana BePink), Emma Johansson (Orica–AIS), Giorgia Bronzini and Linda Villumsen (Wiggle–Honda) and finally Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products).

The first of these notable climbs comes on Stage 3, San Donato Val di Comino is over 4.5 km at an average of 4.7%.

With respect to the Mountains classification, the table shows how the points are scaled dependent on the category of the climb.

Time bonuses of 3, 2, and 1 seconds are awarded to the first three riders to cross the line of each intermediate sprint.