24 March 2012 — Sant Fruitós de Bages to Badalona, 169.4 km (105.3 mi)
Just like the previous day's stage, mini-attacks set the course for the early running; at least four separate groups attacked inside the first 40 km (24.9 mi) of the parcours.
It was at this point that two riders decided to venture clear of the peloton; French duo David Moncoutié (Cofidis) and Cédric Pineau (FDJ–BigMat) set the tempo off the front, and were chased by several other riders.
Garmin–Barracuda's Ryder Hesjedal was among those chasing after Moncoutié and Pineau, in the hope of bringing himself back into overall contention, having been as high as second in the overall classification earlier in the week.
The group was brought back however, but another French rider, Mickaël Cherel of the Ag2r–La Mondiale team, bridged up to his compatriots and they set about extending their gap over the field; the peloton allowed them to break free, as Cherel was best placed of the riders overall at sixteen minutes down.
The trio held an advantage of three minutes after 72 km (44.7 mi), when the race took a temporary halt after a police motorcycle collided with a car head-on, on the stage route.
Both the occupant of the car and the motorcyclist were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries; while the race itself was halted for 40 minutes.

Once the accident was cleared, the breakaway trio were allowed to leave with their original three-minute advantage, after the peloton had negated their gap through the time that they had been stopped.
Their attacking impetus had been stunted however, as they were losing time quickly and were eventually caught prior to the stage's final climb of the day, the Alt de la Conresa.
Pineau's team-mate Jussi Veikkanen was next to try an attack off the front of the peloton, and despite pressure from the Caja Rural team, he managed to get clear and was later joined by Stage 3 winner Janez Brajkovič of Astana, Cofidis rider Romain Zingle and Project 1t4i's Yann Huguet.
The lead quartet pushed on through the final intermediate sprint point in Mollet del Vallès, and managed to hold their advantage onto the Alt de la Conresa.
Huguet could not live with the pace that was being set by Brajkovič, but his efforts were ultimately in vain as the main field quickly caught up to them prior to the summit of the climb.

Having done most of the work on the front, Team Katusha had a rider go clear for a period, but Alberto Losada was brought back very quickly.
Ag2r–La Mondiale's Romain Bardet and Francis Mourey, the third FDJ–BigMat rider to make an attempt to get clear, both launched attacks prior to the final finishing circuit in Badalona.
They both tried to set themselves up for long solo bids for victory, but the peloton closed them down as soon as they could build an advantage.
With 3 km (1.9 mi) and the field still together, it had the hallmarks for a bunch sprint; but Euskaltel–Euskadi rider Samuel Sánchez attacked on a slight incline, hoping to achieve a small split in the field and move himself into second place overall behind GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini.
Sánchez did just that, as he soloed to the stage victory – his team's first of the season – and a two-second winning margin over the rest of the field, led across the line by Albasini's team-mate Allan Davis and Stage 5 winner Julien Simon of Saur–Sojasun.
Albasini finished in the pack to go into the final day with a lead of exactly 90 seconds, while behind Sánchez, thirteen riders were grouped together on the same time, two seconds behind Sánchez.
24 March 2012 — Sant Fruitós de Bages to Badalona, 169.4 km (105.3 mi)
Just like the previous day's stage, mini-attacks set the course for the early running; at least four separate groups attacked inside the first 40 km (24.9 mi) of the parcours. It was at this point that two riders decided to venture clear of the peloton; French duo David Moncoutié (Cofidis) and Cédric Pineau (FDJ–BigMat) set the tempo off the front, and were chased by several other riders. Garmin–Barracuda's Ryder Hesjedal was among those chasing after Moncoutié and Pineau, in the hope of bringing himself back into overall contention, having been as high as second in the overall classification earlier in the week. The group was brought back however, but another French rider, Mickaël Cherel of the Ag2r–La Mondiale team, bridged up to his compatriots and they set about extending their gap over the field; the peloton allowed them to break free, as Cherel was best placed of the riders overall at sixteen minutes down. The trio held an advantage of three minutes after 72 km (44.7 mi), when the race took a temporary halt after a police motorcycle collided with a car head-on, on the stage route. Both the occupant of the car and the motorcyclist were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries; while the race itself was halted for 40 minutes.
Once the accident was cleared, the breakaway trio were allowed to leave with their original three-minute advantage, after the peloton had negated their gap through the time that they had been stopped. Their attacking impetus had been stunted however, as they were losing time quickly and were eventually caught prior to the stage's final climb of the day, the Alt de la Conresa. Pineau's team-mate Jussi Veikkanen was next to try an attack off the front of the peloton, and despite pressure from the Caja Rural team, he managed to get clear and was later joined by Stage 3 winner Janez Brajkovič of Astana, Cofidis rider Romain Zingle and Project 1t4i's Yann Huguet. The lead quartet pushed on through the final intermediate sprint point in Mollet del Vallès, and managed to hold their advantage onto the Alt de la Conresa. Huguet could not live with the pace that was being set by Brajkovič, but his efforts were ultimately in vain as the main field quickly caught up to them prior to the summit of the climb.
Having done most of the work on the front, Team Katusha had a rider go clear for a period, but Alberto Losada was brought back very quickly. Ag2r–La Mondiale's Romain Bardet and Francis Mourey, the third FDJ–BigMat rider to make an attempt to get clear, both launched attacks prior to the final finishing circuit in Badalona. They both tried to set themselves up for long solo bids for victory, but the peloton closed them down as soon as they could build an advantage. With 3 km (1.9 mi) and the field still together, it had the hallmarks for a bunch sprint; but Euskaltel–Euskadi rider Samuel Sánchez attacked on a slight incline, hoping to achieve a small split in the field and move himself into second place overall behind GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini. Sánchez did just that, as he soloed to the stage victory – his team's first of the season – and a two-second winning margin over the rest of the field, led across the line by Albasini's team-mate Allan Davis and Stage 5 winner Julien Simon of Saur–Sojasun. Albasini finished in the pack to go into the final day with a lead of exactly 90 seconds, while behind Sánchez, thirteen riders were grouped together on the same time, two seconds behind Sánchez.
2012 Volta a Catalunya