Eddy Merckx, who was leading the general classification, was excluded from the race after an extremely controversial anti-doping control in Savona.

The teams that took part in the race were:[1] Eddy Merckx (Faema), the previous year's winner returned to defend his crown.

[3][4] He arrived in Italy amid a great season already with victories in the three Monuments Milan–San Remo, Tour of Flanders, and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

[5][6] Merckx named Felice Gimondi (Salvarani) his top rival for the upcoming race.

[3][4] Merckx had specifically hoped to ride a conservative race in order to help his chances to complete the double.

[5][8][9][10][11] Reigning world champion Vittorio Adorni (Scic) who placed second the year before was viewed as a rider who could challenge the Gimondi–Merckx duel,[3][4] despite being winless that season so far.

[6] Filotex's Italo Zilioli and Franco Bitossi were other riders who were speculated to challenge for high general classification positions.

[14] The route featured 26 categorized climbs that awarded points for the mountains classification,[3] including eight of which were being scaled for the first time in race history.

[3] Then the race headed south until Potenza before turning north until reaching San Marino for two stages.

[17] However, the weather there was even worse and the Torriani elected to neutralize the stage after 104 km (65 mi) of racing.

[19] Gimondi, who was promoted to first place, refused to wear the pink jersey during the seventeenth stage.

[18] The race had doping controls and the top two riders in the general classification were drug tested after each stage, along with two other cyclists chosen at random.

[30] The media was able to enter Merckx's room at the Albissola Superiore as the news broke to him, where he stated "I'm sure I didn't take any doping product," as he cried on his hotel bed.

[21] Fellow riders, including Gimondi, and team directors stopped by to express their solidarity with Merckx as he faced the news.

[30] Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) president Adriano Rodoni announced an investigation into the situation,[32] which, in the succeeding days, resulted in the removal of the suspension.

The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider – wore a pink jersey.