Former World Champ Allesandro Ballan lends a hand to the new kid on the block.
                                             Photo: Bettini

Giro Drama For Phinney
24 hours after winning his Giro d'Italia Maglia Rosa in Herning Denmark, BMC's Taylor Phinney almost lost his race lead in the same place he got it. After Phinney was caught behind a crash with 8km to go, he un-shipped his chain and quickly lost :30" on the fast-finishing field. "I just found myself on the ground, having touched wheels and lost balance," Phinney said. "Then I couldn't get my chain back on. So I kind of made a second prologue effort. I was quite scared there for a second that I was going to lose the jersey." But his BMC teammates Danilo Wyss and Alessandro Ballan dropped back and brought the 21 year old American brought him back to the field with 4km to go and Phinney successfully defended his Giro d'Italia Maglia Rosa.

Nibali Sez Nyet
A comunique from Liquigas-Cannondale announced that Vincenzo Nibali has rejected the outfit's contract renewal offer for 2013 and will head elsewhere next season. A disappointed Liquigas-Cannondale team manager Roberto Amadio told Italian website tuttobicwebi.it  “We made an excellent offer (estimated to be 1.8 million Euros / year), we gave (Nibali) time to properly evaluate our proposal, but we have not received any response, so for us the matter is closed. We regret that he will move on, but we can not do otherwise. We made our proposal was made, and we can't do more. It won't be easy not having him on the team as we have always believed in him and we consider Nibali a rider we developed at Liquigas-Cannondale. However Nibali has several other proposals and we simply can't match those." Rumors have been swirling around the talented 27-year-old Italian, already with Liquigas for 6 years, that he was entertaining contract offers from both Astana and BMC in excess of 2 million Euros per year.

Giro Di Tube:  95th Giro d’Italia Broadcast On 5 Continents
In 2012, the Giro d’Italia will be broadcast in 165 countries, with an audience of 350 million people. In Europe the Giro d’Italia is broadcast by Eurosport, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Spain.

The Giro d’Italia will be broadcast in South Africa and on Eurosport Asia and Japan Kazakhstan and Australia. In the Americas, the Giro will be broadcast across Central and South America, while in the USA and Canada, Universal Sports has the broadcast rights.
 
The schedule for TV coverage for the 95th Giro d’Italia on Universal Sports follows to the following schedule (all times Eastern U.S.):
—Live from 9.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m, plus replays at 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.
—Stages 3, 15, 17, 19: Live from 8.30 a.m.
—Commentary by Bob Roll and Todd Gogulski (Stage 1); Steve Schlanger and Gogulski (Stages 2-21).