It started on 12 March in Donoratico and ended on 18 March in San Benedetto del Tronto, and consisted of seven stages, including a team time trial to begin the race and an individual time trial to conclude it.

The race was won by Spain's Alberto Contador of Tinkoff–Saxo,[1] who took the lead after winning his second successive stage on the fifth stage – following on from a win in the race's queen stage to Cittareale – and held the lead until the finish in San Benedetto del Tronto, to become the first Spanish rider to win the race since Óscar Freire in 2005.

[5] In the race's other classifications, Cannondale's Peter Sagan was the winner of the red jersey for the points classification,[6] amassing the highest number of points during stages at intermediate sprints and stage finishes, and Marco Canola was the winner of the mountains classification for the Bardiani–CSF team.

[8] The final time trial was almost irrelevant from the winner's point of view as Alberto Contador[1] had more than two minutes in hand on next best placed rider Nairo Quintana of the Movistar Team.

There were some changes further down the GC as a result of the time trial though as Jean-Christophe Péraud moved above Julián Arredondo in to 4th place and Michele Scarponi moved up to the top ten as a result of a strong ride.