The 2012 Giro d'Italia is right around the corner - it will be the 95th edition of the race, and it's starting away from home this time around (as has been the case off and on through it's somewhat recent history) - from the Danish city of Herning. It all gets started on May 5th, when participants will travel 8.7 km in an individual time trial, and it will all wrap up in Milan on May 27 with a 31.5 km home stretch individual time trial.

That's three weeks if your math is failing you. It's pertinent to us here in the Bay Area because there's a team based on Santa Rosa - BMC Racing Team. The team includes Thor Hushovd, Mathias Frank, Alessandro Ballan, Marco Pinotti, Mauro Santambrogio, Ivan Santaromita, Johann Tschopp, Danilo Wyss and American Taylor Phinney.

They'll all be competing in the race - with Phinney being eligible for the maglia bianca - the white jersey worn by the top of the class of those with the young rider classification. It's going to be an exciting race altogether, and we'll be here with you every step (or stage) of the way.

You can always follow along yourself with free streaming video of the race at SteepHill.tv. The start time for stage one is 6:40 a.m. pacific on May 5, with an approximate finish time of 10:30 p.m. that night. We've also got a look at this year's route, courtesy of the folks over at Gazzetta.it:

For more on the 2012 Giro d'Italia, visit SB Nation's cycling blog Podium Cafe.