The Giro began with a 6.5 km (4 mi) prologue that navigated through the streets of the Dutch city Groningen.

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

[1] Alessio finished as the winners of the Trofeo Fast Team classification, ranking each of the twenty-two teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time.

[2] Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 198 cyclists.

For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages, the leader received a pink jersey.

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

Other less well-known classifications, whose leaders did not receive a special jersey, were awarded during the Giro.

Other awards included the Combativity classification, which was a compilation of points gained for position on crossing intermediate sprints, mountain passes and stage finishes.

[10] Colombia–Selle Italia was the most successful in avoiding penalties after not being penalized during the race, and so won the Fair Play classification.