The twenty-one teams that competed in the race were: In line with the 25th anniversary of Poland moving from a communist to a democratic country and being freed from Soviet grasp, the 71st Tour de Pologne started in Gdańsk, a city famous for being the home of the Solidarność union, largely responsible for the political changes.

With both riders having four points on their tally, the battle for the first navy blue jersey in the intermediate sprints classification would continue until the line.

A sprint finish was ensured, with Ag2r–La Mondiale's Yauheni Hutarovich taking the stage victory, and the yellow and white jerseys with it.

Also like the previous stage, there were two intermediate sprints, coming in Kampinos and in Stare Babice, ahead of a 4.8-kilometre (3.0-mile) loop in Warsaw, to be completed three times.

With Ag2r–La Mondiale pacing the leader, Yauheni Hutarovich, the lead of the breakaway topped four minutes in the early running.

However, at the time of the intermediate sprints (both were located towards the end of the stage), the lead of the trio reached seven minutes and the peloton was in no rush to chase them.

Hutarovich finished fifth, thus keeping the white jersey and second place, with a 27" deficit to Vakoč because of time bonuses.

The parcours of 174 kilometres (108 miles) featured one intermediate sprint in Głogów Małopolski and one third category climb on the streets of Rzeszów.

The four riders built up an advantage that reached 4 minutes over the peloton controlled by Omega Pharma–Quick-Step protecting the overall race leader, Petr Vakoč.

In the general classification, no changes were visible, as 152 of the 164 riders were given the same time as Bos, including 4 caught up in a crash with 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) to go.

The group consisted of Team Sky's Josh Edmondson, Cannondale's Matthias Krizek and CCC–Polsat–Polkowice's Mateusz Taciak.

Krizek took full points at all three intermediate sprints which resulted in him taking over the navy blue jersey from the race leader Petr Vakoč, who was protected by his teammates from Omega Pharma–Quick-Step.

To the surprise of most people, it was Jonas van Genechten of Lotto–Belisol who won the sprint whilst travelling at 80.8 kilometres per hour (50.2 mph).

Team Poland's Paweł Bernas won the special sprint in Suchá Hora before the breakaway's lead topping four minutes.

Paterski and BMC Racing Team's Sebastian Lander attacked on the descent from the first category mountain, however they were soon caught by the rest of the breakaway which was extended to 16 riders.

The reduced peloton was prepared for a sprint finish which, to the delight of the home fans, was won by Rafał Majka, fresh from his win in the mountains classification in the Tour de France.

However, because of the tempo set by Tinkoff–Saxo in the peloton, they were caught on the last climb of Gliczarów Górny, which offered double points for the mountains classification.

Leader Petr Vakoč fell back on the last climb to the finish, thus almost ensuring he would lose the yellow jersey.

Majka attacked once again with 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) to go and ultimately won the stage, his second in a row, in order to take the yellow jersey from Vakoč.

Thus, Jack Bobridge of Belkin Pro Cycling, who, in 137th place, trailed overall leader Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo) by one hour, forty-four minutes and thirty-nine seconds, was the first rider to set off on the stage.