A total of eighteen teams were invited to participate in the 1982 Giro d'Italia.

[2] Each team sent a squad of nine riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 162 cyclists.

[3] The teams entering the race were: The route for the 1982 edition of the Giro d'Italia was revealed to the public by head organizer Vincenzo Torriani on 20 February 1982.

[4][5][6] Covering a total of 4,010.5 km (2,492.0 mi), it included three time trials (two individual and one for teams), and eleven stages with categorized climbs that awarded mountains classification points.

The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages – wore a pink jersey.

In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists.