It began in the Belgian city of Seraing with a 6.2 km (3.9 mi) individual time trial.

The race came to a close with a 140 km (87.0 mi) mass-start road stage that stretched from Museo del Ghisallo to Milan.

[1] Basso, riding for Team CSC, won the Giro in dominant fashion.

[2] Basso won three individual stages, as well as the team time trial, along with his fellow Team CSC riders, and won the overall classification by more than 9 minutes over the next best rider, the largest margin of victory in a Grand Tour in the last three years.

The 22 that competed in the race were: The 2006 Giro opened, and had its first 4 stages in the South-East of Belgium in the Wallonia region.

The Giro organisers chose to locate the opening in this region as a homage to the thousands of Italians who moved to the region following the end of World War II in order to find jobs in the coal mines of the area.

The 2006 Giro commemorated the deaths of 136 Italian miners who died in the 1956 Bois du Cazier mine disaster.

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.

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.