Cyclingnews.com described the list of favourites for victory at the Volta as "formidable" and as including "almost all the main contenders for both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France".

[11] Other riders with a chance of high placings included Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), who had won the race on two previous occasions, and Dan Martin (Etixx–Quick-Step), the 2013 Volta winner, as well as many other climbers.

The strongest sprinter who was present was Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), who had been strong in Paris–Nice and had been close to victory in Milan–San Remo until his chain slipped.

As the roads turned back to the south, there was then a flat section before the biggest climb of the day, the first-category Coli Formic.

[citation needed] An early breakaway was formed by Lluís Mas (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA), Boris Dron (Wanty–Groupe Gobert) and Cameron Meyer (Team Dimension Data); they built a lead of over six minutes.

From the climb of the Coll Formic, however, they were chased by Movistar and Cofidis; Meyer was the first over the summit to take the lead of the mountains classification, but they were caught soon afterwards.

[citation needed] Before the stage started, there was a minute's silence to acknowledge the bombings in Brussels that morning, with many riders – especially the Belgians – wearing black armbands.

[19] There was a four-man early breakaway that included two Belgians – Boris Dron (Wanty–Groupe Gobert) and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto–Soudal) – alongside Kamil Gradek (Verva ActiveJet) and Maxime Bouet (Etixx–QuickStep).

[22] 23 March, Girona to La Molina, 172.1 km (106.9 mi) The third stage included the first summit finish of the race.

[citation needed] The day's early breakaway was formed by seven riders: Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx–Quick-Step), Koen Bouwman (LottoNL–Jumbo), Kévin Reza (FDJ), Johann van Zyl (Dimension Data), Jan Hirt (CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice), Huub Duyn (Roompot–Oranje Peloton) and Alex Howes (Cannondale).

Contador finished two seconds back, with Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) third and van Garderen fourth, all on the same time.

[25][27] 24 March, Bagà to Port Ainé, 172.2 km (107.0 mi) The fourth stage included the second and final summit finish of the race.

[citation needed] The early breakaway was formed by Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Rubén Plaza (Orica–GreenEDGE), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto–Soudal), Laurens ten Dam (Team Giant–Alpecin), Kristijan Đurasek (Lampre–Mérida), Pieter Weening (Roompot), Boris Dron (Wanty–Groupe Gobert), Alexey Tsatevich (Katusha) and Ben Swift (Team Sky).

The breakaway then broke up, with De Gendt and Erviti continuing together at the front of the race; on the penultimate climb, they had a seven-minute advantage on the peloton.

Coming towards the base of the final climb, Wout Poels (Sky) attacked from the peloton and linked up with Swift; despite their work, they were unable to build a significant advantage as Contador chased them.

[30][31] After the stage, Contador blamed his time loss to Quintana on the effort he had put into chasing down attacks in the final kilometres, in particular that of van Garderen.

[33] Froome, meanwhile, lost 37 seconds to Quintana and his directeur sportif, Nicolas Portal, said that he "didn't have the legs" to follow the leaders' attacks.

[37] The riders in the breakaway were Carlos Verona (Etixx–Quick-Step), Dario Cataldo (Astana), Jan Polanc (Lampre–Mérida), Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Dimension Data), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto–Soudal), and Gaëtan Bille and Frederik Veuchelen (both Wanty–Groupe Gobert).

Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Rigoberto Urán (Cannondale) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) all attempted attacks but were unable to escape.

The riders initially travelled along the coast, crossing the third-category Alt de la Maradona, then turned inland for a long loop.

The day's most significant climb, the second-category Alt de la Ventoses, came after 110 kilometres (68 mi), but the roads were otherwise mainly flat.

[citation needed] One of the principal sprinters left in the race, Sky's Ben Swift, pulled out of the stage before the start due to illness.

After another 50 kilometres (31 mi) of racing, the day's breakaway was finally formed by eleven riders: Petr Vakoč (Etixx–Quick-Step), Esteban Chaves (Orica–GreenEDGE), Laurens Ten Dam (Giant–Alpecin), Ryder Hesjedal (Trek–Segafredo), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL–Jumbo), Alex Howes (Cannondale), Cameron Meyer (Dimension Data), Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale), Romain Hardy and Rudy Molard (both Cofidis), and Marco Minnaard (Wanty–Groupe Gobert).

[43] Around halfway through the stage, they had a lead of five minutes but, due to the flat terrain, there were several teams with sprinters who were determined to bring the break back.

Vakoč made a failed attempt at a solo attack; the lead was reduced to 20 seconds with 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) remaining.

The route then turned back south, crossing a third-category climb as it returned to Barcelona after 80 kilometres (50 mi) of racing.

[citation needed] Early in the stage, Dan Martin came third in an intermediate sprint, giving him a bonus second.

[54] Nicolas Portal, Chris Froome's directeur sportif, described his form as "very encouraging", saying that all he lacked was the top-end speed when the other riders accelerated at the end of the mountain stages.

[56] The top ten riders in the Volta a Catalunya general classification were awarded points in the 2016 UCI World Tour competition.

[citation needed] With the points from the Volta, Quintana entered the rankings in eighth place, while Contador moved from tenth to third.