The race began in wet and cold conditions in Milan. Four riders formed a breakaway shortly after the beginning of the race: Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18), Sebastian Molano (Colombia), Andrea Peron (Team Novo Nordisk) and Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo). They were joined shortly afterwards by Marco Frapporti, Tiziano Dall'Antonia (both Androni Giocattoli), Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida), Serge Pauwels (MTN-Qhubeka), Adrian Kurek (CCC-Sprandi-Polkowice), Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani-CSF) and Julien Bérard (AG2R La Mondiale). After , they had a lead of over 10 minutes. Trek Factory Racing and Team Katusha were among the teams leading the peloton; their efforts reduced the gap to seven minutes after . As the breakaway passed over the Passo del Turchino, about halfway through the race, they had a lead of five minutes. The gap was briefly as low as four minutes, but was generally held at about five minutes until there were about left to race. As the riders arrived on the Mediterranean coast, the weather conditions improved, with the rain stopping and the roads drying out.