The race included five stages. The first of these was a 16.25-kilometre (10.10 mi)
individual time trial; this was then followed by four road stages, ending in
Valencia.[1] The previous champion, from the 2008 edition, was
Rubén Plaza, but his
Lampre–Merida team was not among those invited to start the race.[1]
The first stage time trial was won by
Wout Poels (
Team Sky), with
Luis León Sánchez (
Astana) second and Poels's teammate
Vasil Kiryienka, the world time trial champion third. Poels retained his lead by finishing third on the uphill finish the following day, with
Dan Martin (
Etixx–Quick-Step) winning the stage. He maintained this the following day, with
Dylan Groenewegen (
LottoNL–Jumbo winning a sprint. Poels extended his lead by winning Stage 4 alone, with his teammate
Beñat Intxausti finishing second and moving up to third overall. The final stage was won in a solo break by
Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx–Quick-Step). Poels won the overall classification, with Sánchez second and Intxausti third. Poels also won the points and mountains classification, and Team Sky won the team classification.[citation needed]