The race started in Jerusalem on 4 May, with a 9.7 km (6 mi) individual time trial followed by two additional stages within Israel.

His victory was highlighted by an audacious 80 km solo breakaway to win the mountainous stage 19; attacking the small group of leaders including reigning champion Tom Dumoulin on the Cima Coppi of the 2018 Giro, the graveled climb of the Colle delle Finestre, he continued to extend his lead over the Sestriere and to the summit finish of Bardonecchia and overturned a more than three minute deficit to take both the pink jersey, the Cima Coppi prize and the mountains classification.

Bartali helped rescue hundreds of Italian Jews during the Holocaust and was recognized by Yad Vashem in 2013 as Righteous Among the Nations.

[5] The race was won by Team Sky's Chris Froome, who therefore held all three Grand Tour titles simultaneously and became the first British cyclist to win the overall classification in the Giro.

Froome crashed during a recon ride ahead of the prologue and lost time consistently over the first two weeks.

Lotto–Soudal chose to compete under a different name from the rest of the season: they became Lotto Fix ALL, using the name of a product made by Soudal, their normal sponsor.

Other general classification contenders were Miguel Ángel López (Astana), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama–FDJ), Wout Poels (Team Sky), Simon Yates and Esteban Chaves (both Mitchelton–Scott), George Bennett (LottoNL–Jumbo), Louis Meintjes (Team Dimension Data), Michael Woods (EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale), Davide Formolo (Bora–Hansgrohe), Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain–Merida).

Sprinters at the Giro included Elia Viviani, Jakub Mareczko, Niccolo Bonifazio, Danny van Poppel, Sacha Modolo, Sam Bennett, Jens Debusschere and Ryan Gibbons.

The rider with the lowest cumulative time is awarded the pink jersey (Italian: maglia rosa),[12] and is considered the winner of the Giro d'Italia.

At 2,178 metres (7,146 ft), the Cima Coppi for the 2018 Giro d'Italia is the Colle delle Finestre.

Another classification – the combativity prize (Italian: Premio Combattività) – involves points awarded to the first riders at the stage finishes, at intermediate sprints, and at the summits of categorised climbs.