The Giro began with a prologue through the streets of San Remo. The returning winner of the Giro, Roberto Visentini, won the prologue by two tenths of a second over the Canadian rider Steve Bauer. The next race day held two stages: a stage with a summit finish, followed by a downhill individual time trial. 's Erik Breukink took the climbing half-stage win with a solo attack. His performance earned him the race leader's "maglia rosa" (), which he kept until the third stage. Stephen Roche won the time trial half-stage with a three-second margin over Del Tongo's Lech Piasecki. Johan van der Velde formed a lead group with about to go in the second stage, but as he posed a threat to the race lead, he was not given a large advantage and was subsequently caught by the chasing peloton from the finish. The main field remained intact for the remaining kilometers and the race geared up for a sprint finish won by Moreno Argentin.