Wildcard teams Tinkoff Credit Systems and Ceramica Panaria-Navigare were active in early breakaway attempts, but no riders got clear until over an hour spent racing and were covered. Daniele Contrini instigated the day's breakaway at that point, and Marco Pinotti, Christophe Kern, Hubert Schwab, and Luis Felipe Laverde joined him. The breakaway was riding cohesively through the Monte Terminillo climb, and the Liquigas-led main field did not chase very hard to bring them back. Pinotti was the best-placed man in the break, 3'11 back of race leader Danilo Di Luca on the day. The group's advantage quickly exceeded three minutes, meaning Pinotti stood to become race leader if they stayed away. Laverde took the mountains points at the top of the Terminillo, and took the green jersey on the podium at day's end.