After originally being scheduled to be held over a distance of , race organisers announced prior to the race that the stage would be shortened to . A further amendment was made the night before the stage was due to be run, reducing the stage yet further, to . The amendment was due to heavy snow on what was due to be the first categorised climb of the race, the Nufenen Pass, which had made the roads impassable. The stage start was moved to Ulrichen, which had been due to be the first town in which the peloton would have passed on the descent from the climb. The new parcours was largely downhill to start, before flattening out; it passed through two intermediate sprint points at Sierre and Sion before reaching the first-category climb to Crans-Montana. A long climb, the ascent averaged over 6%, and was featuring in the race after a year's absence in 2012; the previous stage finish was won by Mauricio Soler in 2011, before he crashed heavily later in that race, which ultimately ended his cycling career.