An overcast and sticky morning in Northern
Spain welcomed the riders to the start line for the early roll out towards the hills of the
Basque country. A nine-rider breakaway formed early in the stage and including
Christian Meier of . After 45 kilometers of racing the leaders had over four minutes advantage with much climbing ahead. controlled the front of the race for most of the 165.7 kilometers before
super-domestique Damien Howson moved up the road as the breakaway was neutralized towards the final climb. Howson perfectly set up
Simon Yates for the winning move with a blistering attack ahead of the final climb, thinning out the field before the acceleration of Yates. With a few kilometers to go Yates made the decisive attack on the last climb, holding off
Angel Madrazo,
Alexander Vdovin,
Javier Moreno, and
David Belda to take an impressive solo victory and set the race record for the fastest ascent of the final climb. == Results ==