Smukulis quickly dropped back and left his three companions to make the pace out front. GreenEDGE provided the pace in the peloton, and with that speed, it allowed the field to catch the trio out front with around left to run of the parcours, and prior to the final climb of the day at Mengler Hill. With GreenEDGE and Movistar Team still pressurising the field as they were on the climb itself, many riders became dislodged at the back of the peloton due to their nature of the attack. Among those that fell from the comfort zone were race leader Greipel and Vacansoleil-DCM's Thomas De Gendt, who had been in fourth place overall prior to the stage; GreenEDGE sporting director Matt White later stated that their aim for the stage was to remove Greipel from the race equation. UniSA-Australia rider Rohan Dennis led over the hill, to take the 16 points on offer for first place, while Greipel lost more than seven minutes by stage's end.