The route for the 1989 edition of the Giro d'Italia was revealed to the public on television by head organizer Vincenzo Torriani, on 21 January 1989. It contained four time trial events, three of which were individual and one a team event. There were fourteen stages containing thirty-five categorized climbs, of which three had summit finishes: stage 2, to Mount Etna; stage 8, to Gran Sasso d'Italia; and stage 13, to Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Another stage with a mountain-top finish was stage 18, which consisted of a climbing time trial to Monte Generoso. The organizers chose to not include any rest days. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was shorter, contained the number of rest days and time trials, and had one more stage. In addition, this race contained one less set of half stages. After the route had been announced in January, former winner Francesco Moser - who joined the race organizing staff - received criticism as the route was thought to be very difficult and heavy. This criticism was due to Moser's history of complaining routes were too difficult in the past, when many viewed them not as such.