The 1988 Giro d'Italia began on 23 May, and stage 11 occurred on 2 June. The 1988 edition began with a short 9 km (5.6 mi) individual time trial around the city of Urbino. The following two days of racing were normal mass-start stages, before the fourth day of racing consisted of two half-stages, the first a normal stage and the latter a 40 km (24.9 mi) team time trial. The rest of the opening half of the race – remaining within Italy for the duration – consisted of stages with or without categorized climbs.