The lead of the race changed hands in the final stage of the event. Garmin–Cervélo rider, and defending race winner, Dan Martin, who took the overall lead after a stage victory on the penultimate stage, had an advantage of three seconds to his nearest challengers Peter Sagan of Liquigas–Cannondale and Vacansoleil–DCM's Marco Marcato. Sagan had held the lead prior to Martin, having won the fourth and fifth stages, but lost his advantage after losing time in the closing metres of stage six, after an attack by Martin and Wout Poels, another Vacansoleil–DCM rider.
On the final stage, Sagan and Marcato moved closer to Martin at the intermediate sprint – offering time bonuses to the top three riders – by taking second and third behind Martin's team-mate Heinrich Haussler, with the winner of the Tour to be decided at the finish in Kraków. Despite missing out on the stage victory – taken by Skil–Shimano's Marcel Kittel,[2] who took his fourth stage victory of the week – Sagan finished just behind in second place, and with a time bonus of six seconds, he overhauled Martin by five seconds.[2] Marcato finished fifth on the stage to seal his third place in the general classification, two seconds behind Martin and seven behind Sagan.[3]
In the race's other classifications, Vacansoleil–DCM rider Michał Gołaś won the King of the Mountains classification, Sagan won the points classification, Adrian Kurek of Team Poland BGŻ finished clear at the top of the sprints classification, with Vacansoleil–DCM also finishing at the head of the teams classification.
Aside from entering the Czech Republic (to the city of Český Těšín on the border with Poland) during the fourth stage, the race stages started and ended in Polish locations.
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Peter Sagan (SVK)
Dan Martin (IRL)
