[4] WorldTeams Wildcard teams The key stages on the general classification were expected to be the time trials and the summit finish.

[5] The race was originally expected to be the first contest of the season between the four riders expected to contest the Tour de France: the 2014 Tirreno–Adriatico champion Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo), the 2013 Tirreno–Adriatico champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) and Chris Froome (Team Sky).

Other riders considered to have a chance in the general classification included Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step), Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Dan Martin (Cannondale–Garmin) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ).

[7][8][9] As well as losing Froome from the general classification battle, the race also lost one of the riders expected to challenge for stage wins.

The principal sprinters left in the race were Mark Cavendish (Etixx–Quick-Step), Elia Viviani (Team Sky), Tyler Farrar (MTN–Qhubeka) and Sam Bennett (Bora–Argon 18).

[7] The race was originally intended to begin with a 22-kilometre (13.7 mi) team time trial around Lido di Camaiore.

[5] Stage 1 was originally intended to be a 22.7-kilometre (14.1-mile) team time trial, but bad weather (high wind and torrential rain) in the week leading up to the event made this impossible.

Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff–Saxo), Steve Cummings (MTN–Qhubeka) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) all came close to Malori's time, but were unable to beat it.

The principal favourite for the stage, former world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), finished one second behind Malori, who therefore won the stage, winning both the blue jersey of the overall leader of the race and the red jersey of the points classification leader.

The course started with one and a half laps of a circuit around Camaiore, including the only two categorised climbs of the day, before heading south-east towards the city of Lucca.

This was made up of seven riders: Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani–CSF), Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team), Cristiano Salerno and Patrick Konrad (Bora–Argon 18), Camilo Castiblanco, Carlos Quintero (both Colombia) and Martijn Keizer (LottoNL–Jumbo).

These three riders continued alone; they had less than a minute's lead as they entered the final lap of the circuit with 20.7 kilometres (12.9 miles) remaining and were caught soon afterwards.

There was a crash in the peloton 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) from the finish, which eliminated Matteo Pelucchi (Lampre–Merida) from contention, as well as causing some delay for Orica–GreenEDGE's general classification rider Adam Yates.

MTN–Qhubeka led the group under the flamme rouge with 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) remaining, as Edvald Boasson Hagen attempted to lead out his teammate Tyler Farrar.

Jens Debusschere (Lotto–Soudal), riding in the colours of the Belgian national champion, outsprinted Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo) on the line; Sam Bennett (Bora–Argon 18) finished third.

Sagan's Tinkoff–Saxo team, however, controlled the race carefully: Matteo Tosatto and Christopher Juul-Jensen both put in long efforts on the front of the peloton to bring the group back.

Sagan was the quickest in the final metres, but he had started too far back; although he was able to pass Stybar to finish second on the stage, he was unable to catch Van Avermaet.

Neither of the chase groups was successful, however, and the lead pair stayed clear until Durbridge tired with 21 kilometres (13 miles) remaining.

[31] On the first climb of the Crispiero, Giovanni Visconti (Movistar Team) attacked along with Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Julián Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing).

Alexis Vuillermoz led the peloton into the foot of the final climb, dropping Van Avermaet, the race leader, with about 8 kilometres (5.0 miles) left.

He also moved into the overall lead of the race, with a 17-second advantage over Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step), who had won the sprint for second place in the group behind.

Contador did most of the work in a group of five riders, including Urán, Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Adam Yates (Orica–GreenEDGE).

Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) was prominent among them, as he had been in a dispute over hot weather at the Tour of Oman, with Filippo Pozzato (Lampre–Merida) and Luca Paolini (Team Katusha) expressing similar concerns.

It took the riders from the city of Rieti, at the foot of Monte Terminillo, northeast to finish on the Adriatic coast at Porto Sant'Elpidio over a 210-kilometre (130.5-mile) route.

[43] An early breakaway formed at 15 kilometres (9.3 miles), involving Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar), Stijn Devolder (Trek Factory Racing) and Alessandro Vanotti (Astana).

[46] Cavendish, along with his entire sprint train, pulled out of the race as they crossed the finish line for the first time in order to rest ahead of Milan–San Remo the following weekend.

This stage was 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) in length and took place entirely in the resort of San Benedetto del Tronto on the Adriatic seafront.

The course was an out-and-back route; it first headed south, through an intermediate time check after 4.7 kilometres (2.9 miles), to a pair of 90-degree right hand turns halfway through the course.

Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) also put in a strong ride, finishing ahead of Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step), who was seen as the better time triallist of the two.

[51][53] Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), the leader of the points competition, only had to finish the stage within the time limit to win the classification.