The mountains classification was won by MTN–Qhubeka's Daniel Teklehaimanot, who achieved it by getting in the early breakaways and placing highly over categorised climbs.

[4][5] The leading contenders for general classification were two of the four Tour de France favourites, Froome and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).

[6][7] The riders considered outsiders included Talansky, Valverde, Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team), Rui Costa (Lampre–Merida), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) and the winner of the young rider classification in 2014, Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL–Jumbo).

[10] Stage two crossed the flat Dombes area west from Le Bourget-du-Lac to Villars-les-Dombes and covered a distance of 173 kilometres (107.5 miles).

[12] The route left Ugine and passed the finishing city of Albertville, before a loop that featured the category 4 Côte d'Esserts-Blay, 17 kilometres (10.6 miles) in.

[14] In the opening 5 kilometres (3.1 miles), Gert Dockx of Lotto–Soudal was involved in a crash and was forced to abandon the race due to his injuries.

[15] After 11 kilometres (6.8 miles), a breakaway was formed by Romain Guillemois (Team Europcar), Björn Thurau (Bora–Argon 18), Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN–Qhubeka) and Maarten Wynants (LottoNL–Jumbo).

Teklehaimanot accrued enough mountains classification points to secure the polka dot jersey with two climbs of the Côte du Villard to go.

Peter Kennaugh of Team Sky attacked from the group with 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) remaining and took the stage victory two seconds ahead of the bunch sprint.

[17] The early breakaway was formed by three riders, Perrig Quéméneur (Team Europcar), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ) and, for the second day running, Daniel Teklehaimanot.

Second placed overall Tejay van Garderen, who was BMC's general classification leader and a pre-race favourite praised his team's effort and was confident about his chances in the race, saying "I feel good.

[12] Starting in Anneyron, the route covered rolling terrain until the passing of the third-category Col de Lescou at 93.5 kilometres (58.1 miles).

[22] A breakaway duo consisting of Martijn Keizer (LottoNL–Jumbo) and Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto–Soudal) escaped 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) into the stage.

[23] Wellens was caught by the peloton in the final 2 kilometres (1.2 miles), before a failed move by a trio consisting of Daniel Oss, Tony Martin (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Bram Tankink (LottoNL–Jumbo).

[25] Tony Gallopin (Lotto–Soudal) launched a late attack, but was caught during the bunch sprint that was won by Nacer Bouhanni, his second stage victory of the race.

[28] Team Sky set a high pace at the head of the peloton throughout the Col d'Allos, leading to a large number of riders being dropped, including the race leader Rohan Dennis.

[28] As the race reached the summit, Romain Bardet attacked, and the bottom had gained a twenty-second advantage over the front group of around thirty riders, increasing it to one minute at the foot of the Pra-Loup climb.

Sky again controlled the head of the chase, with Vincenzo Nibali, Alejandro Valverde and Wilco Kelderman the notable riders distanced.

[29] Chris Froome launched an attack in the final 2 kilometres (1.2 miles), with Tejay van Garderen and Beñat Intxausti following.

The advantage of the break was over three minutes as they climbed the Col de Rousset, with Nibali briefly escaping on the subsequent descent.

At the top a small drop and climb over the Col des Aravis took the riders to a descent and a long gradual incline.

[35] Another wet stage saw a breakaway of thirty-five riders move away 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) in,[37][38] which decreased to twenty-five on the Col de la Croix Fry.

[38] At the start of the final climb, the leading duo were joined by Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar Team) and Bartosz Huzarski (Bora–Argon 18).

Sky set a high pace in pursuit of the leading group, and with 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) to go, Chris Froome attacked, followed by Tejay van Garderen, and they soon passed the leaders.

[37] Van Garderen moved into the lead of the general classification, and although placing second in the stage, he was content, saying "My tactic was just to mark Froome and when he went there was no way I could follow him, but I'm very happy with the yellow jersey.

A small descent took the race to Modane and the ascent to the summit finish at the Valfréjus ski resort; the length of the climb was 8.4 kilometres (5.2 miles) with an average gradient of 5.7%.

[41] The last of the riders from the break caught Martin on the Côte de Saint-André, where Steve Cummings of MTN–Qhubeka attacked this front group.

With 5.5 kilometres (3.4 miles) remaining, Vincenzo Nibali moved to the front in support of Astana teammate Michele Scarponi, whose failed attack led to the formation of an elite group of chasers including the general classification leaders.

[41] At first Tejay van Garderen could follow this move, but he was eventually unable to keep up with Froome and was caught by Simon Yates and Rui Costa.

For stages, 1, 2 and 4 the win earned 25 points, second place 22, third 20, fourth 18, fifth 16, sixth 14, seventh 12, eighth 10, ninth 8 and tenth 6.