the first stage, an 8 km mountain time trial in bologna, was won by primož roglič () who therefore became the first wearer of the "maglia rosa", the pink jersey identifying the leader of the general classification. roglič also took the lead in the points classification. giulio ciccone () took the lead in the mountains classification and became the first wearer of the blue jersey, while miguel ángel lópez () finished as the fastest young rider and became the leader of the young rider classification. stage 2, the first bunch sprint stage, was taken by pascal ackermann (), who benefited from a mistake by elia viviani () in the setup for the sprint. roglič held the maglia rosa for another day, while ackermann took the points classification. ciccone also went into the breakaway and maintained his lead in the mountains classification. the third stage was once again a group sprint, but this one had much more controversy. in the leadup to the sprint, viviani pulled out of line and bumped matteo moschetti () out of the way. viviani won the stage on the road, but judges later relegated him for an illegal sprint, which handed the win and points classification to fernando gaviria (). no other changes in the jerseys occurred. richard carapaz () won the fourth stage after a late attack. multiple crashes with only a few kilometers left of the stage saw several riders go down. one of those affected was favorite tom dumoulin (), who eventually finished the stage four minutes after many other favorites had crossed the line. roglič extended his general classification lead out to 35 seconds, and ackermann took back the points classification. stage five was a drenched one, with a neutralized bunch sprint at the end. ackermann took the win after nearly colliding with a groupama-fdj rider. gaviria took a close second. dumoulin officially withdrew after only a few kilometers of the stage, stating that the pain was too much to continue.