The road race stages in the Netherlands were both marred by repeated crashes, which led to some unexpected big time gaps before the transfer to Italy.

Sixteen teams were guaranteed a place in the race by virtue of a September 2008 agreement between the UCI and the organizers of the season's three Grand Tours.

[4] Two from this group, Euskaltel–Euskadi and Française des Jeux, declined to participate in the race, instead focusing on the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.

[7][20] Just five days before the race began, the UCI announced several riders were under suspicion of doping by virtue of irregular values in their biological passports.

[21] While team firmly stood behind Pellizotti in the case and expressed anger that the UCI unveiled their findings so close to the start of the Giro,[22] they obligingly pulled him from their squad.

[21] While not an overall favorite, Alessandro Ballan intended to participate in the race, stating in October that it was a certainty he would start, after missing out on the Giro in 2009 when he was world champion.

Evans had finished on a Grand Tour podium in each of the past three seasons, including in the most recent three-week event, the 2009 Vuelta a España.

He also entered the race as the reigning world cycling champion and had had a successful 2010 season to date, with a win in La Flèche Wallonne and a podium finish in the Tirreno–Adriatico.

Other riders named as contenders included Bradley Wiggins, former Giro winners Damiano Cunego and Stefano Garzelli, Alexander Vinokourov,[29][30] Marzio Bruseghin, Christian Vande Velde,[33] Domenico Pozzovivo, David Moncoutié, and Michele Scarponi.

[34] Race director Angelo Zomegnan also named Basso, Evans, and Sastre as his three favorites, and included Wiggins and Linus Gerdemann as possible darkhorses.

[35] Mark Cavendish and Daniele Bennati, stage winners in the past two editions of the Giro, were absent from this race, but several top sprinters took the start in Amsterdam.

[37] Other sprinters in the Giro peloton included Robbie McEwen, Freire's teammate Graeme Brown,[32] Baden Cooke, Leonardo Duque, Sebastian Haedo, Wouter Weylandt, and Greg Henderson.

Stage 7 visited Tuscany and was raced partly on unpaved roads used yearly in the Italian semi-classic Montepaschi Strade Bianche.

[40] The course honored Italian cycling legends Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, and Costante Girardengo by passing through their hometowns in the first road race stages in Italy.

The next was Monte Zoncolan in the Carnic Alps, which at 10.5 km (6.5 mi) in length was shorter than some of the other climbs in the race, but with 1,210 m (3,970 ft) of vertical gain in that time, its 20 percent maximum gradient made it one of the most difficult.

[49] Tyler Farrar,[50] Carlos Sastre, Christian Vande Velde,[51] Greg Henderson, Wiggins,[52] Alessandro Petacchi, Domenico Pozzovivo, Marzio Bruseghin, Filippo Pozzato, and Gilberto Simoni all fell from their bikes at some point while the Giro was in the Netherlands.

For sprinters like Farrar and Petacchi, crashing meant they were unlikely to be able to contest the finishes for stage wins, while overall contenders like Wiggins and Sastre lost time in the general classification.

[48][54] The state of the roads in the Netherlands and the sheer quantity of crashes that took place there incurred much criticism and questions over whether they should be included in a Grand Tour.

Vinokourov held it prior to the transfer to Italy, with six riders from three teams within 10 seconds of him, meaning the pink jersey still remained very much in flux.

Liquigas–Doimo was the winning squad, and had a time gap over Vinokourov's Astana team that was sufficiently large enough for Vincenzo Nibali to become the fourth race leader in as many stages.

[56] At last, there was stability in the race leadership, as Nibali comfortably retained over the next two stages, both of which featured breakaways taking the day's honors while the peloton finished together.

Evans won the stage, one of many riders to cross the finish line covered in mud, and Vinokourov took back the race leadership.

Among them were Sastre, Wiggins, and Team Saxo Bank's Richie Porte, who was holding the white jersey as best young rider and, at sixth overall, was the best-placed man in the group.

The main field, containing the Giro's top favorites, pulled back a little time but was still nearly 13 minutes behind stage winner Evgeni Petrov at the finish.

[60] Evans turned in the best ride of the pre-race favorites in the Plan de Corones time trial, closing his deficit to Basso and moving past Sastre in the overall.

The Liquigas–Doimo team rode a very hard tempo in stage 19 over the Passo del Mortirolo, which eventually whittled that group down to just Basso, Nibali, and Scarponi.

Arroyo, noted as a far better descender than Basso, took very aggressive lines coming down the Mortirolo and caught up with Vinokourov, Sastre, Evans, and John Gadret, who had been between him and the leading trio.

[62] Arroyo elected not to try to aggressively descend any of the four large climbs on course in the final road race stage, settling for second place by riding with Basso and the other top riders in the peloton most of the day.

There were a few changes in time gaps, but the same riders remained in the top ten from the previous day, as Johan Tschopp won the stage from a breakaway.

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