The route for the 1980 edition of the Giro d'Italia was revealed to the public by head organizer Vincenzo Torriani on 31 January 1980. Covering a total of , it included three individual time trials, and ten stages with categorized climbs that awarded mountains classification points. Four of these ten stages had summit finishes: stage 8, to Fiuggi; stage 11, to Campotenese; stage 14, to Roccaraso; and stage 18, to Zoldo Alto. In the case the Stelvio was not passable by bike, the nineteenth and twentieth stages had a back-up plan where that took an alternate route through the Pordoi Pass in stage nineteen and would be the new Cima Coppi. The organizers chose to include two rest days. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was longer and contained two less time trials. In addition, this race contained three more stages.