At the end of the first real GC skirmish of the race, it was Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) who stood tallest, claiming the stage win and leaders jersey in one swoop, and looking strong while doing so. With 700 uphill metres of the stage remaining there were nine riders at the head of the race, an attack by Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha Team) shattered that group. Valverde was able to follow the wheel of Rodriguez, but the others were not and a small gap opened. Chris Froome (Team Sky) was able to drag himself over to the two leaders, with Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) following in his wake. Once they reached the leaders Froome tried to go on the offensive himself, but Valverde was able to follow comfortably, before countering with his own unanswerable attack, taking victory ahead of Froome and Contador, and claiming the race lead in the process.

Valverde had taken over the lead group with 2.3km remaining, setting as fierce pace which put the peloton under serious pressure and rapidly shed riders from the leading group. Valverde remained on the front until Purito launched his attack with 700m to go, by which stage the leading group had shrunk to nine riders, the majority of whom appeared to be right on the limit just to stay with the Movistar rider. Valverde may have been trying to set up his team mate Quintana, but if so Quintana was unable to capitalize, instead he struggled to follow Purito's attack and lost contact when the counter attacks came at the finish. The first summit finish can catch riders out, and the heat has been extreme for a number of days now, so there is only so much we can read into this performance, but it didn't look great for Quintana's aspirations in this Vuelta.

There was a frantic start to the stage with a number of riders trying to go clear from the peloton, however when the dust settled there were just two riders up the road, both of whom have already featured in breaks during this race; Luis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Pim Ligthart (Lotto Belisol). For the first time in this Vuelta the break was allowed to establish a healthy advantage, with their lead growing out to more than 14 minutes, which prompted Garmin-Sharp to exert a little control on the front of the peloton.

Katusha joined Garmin-Sharp on the front of the peloton for a while, both teams carrying riders with a definite interest in the finish ahead, but for the most part Garmin-Sharp carried the responsibility of controlling the two breakaway riders. Katusha finally fully committed themselves to the chase with less than 40km remaining, and they had timed it to perfection as they, along with Orica GreenEDGE and Garmin-Sharp, caught the two leaders on the lower slopes of the final climb.

As they reeled in the break Christophe Le Mével (Cofidis) was the first to attack, but the pace behind was too strong and he was caught alongside Ligthart. George Bennett (Cannondale) was the next to try his luck, but he fared no better than Le Mével, as Valverde hit the front and took over the race.