After more than 10 km of relentless attacks, a large move featuring Ion Izagirre, Javier Ibáñez, Haimar Etxeberria, Josh Burnett, Iker Gómez, Gari Ugarte, Michiel Lambrecht, Edison Callejas and Giosuè Epis briefly formed before being reeled in on the Puerto de la Cabra. On a big climb in the first half of the race, Iván Romeo and Andreas Leknessund forced the decisive move, building a gap the chasing peloton could not close. The pair held off the bunch all the way to the line, and in the final two kilometres Romeo, the Spanish national champion, dropped Leknessund to solo to victory. Aranburu led the chasers home at +0:54.

Romeo moved into the leader's jersey with a seven-second margin over Leknessund. Behind the duo, Fred Wright, Bastien Tronchon, Aranburu, Laporte and Vlasov were grouped at +0:54, leaving the GC as a two-man affair at the top with everyone else nearly a minute back.