The race came to a close on June 6 with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan.

Late in the race Marco Pantani was accused of using EPO and was expelled either as the result of a failed doping control, or due to a conspiracy involving drug tests being manipulated.

Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 162 cyclists.

This left the race open for Gotti to capture his second overall title and wear the final pink jersey as Giro Champion for the 2nd time in three years.

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.

[8] The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.