Universal Sports, the network that brought us live streaming of the Giro d'Italia, is following up with live online and delayed broadcasts of the 2009 Vuelta a Espana which rolls out from August 29 to September 20.

All 21 stages will be shown live at UniversalSports.com every morning, complete with an online "Tracker" that shows riders' positions on the course and stage maps and profiles.

The stages will be replayed on the Universal Sports broadcast and cable network during the day and followed by an enhanced replay in primetime.

Meanwhile, Tour de France broadcaster Versus announced that viewership  soared 41% over the previous year. Multichannel News reported that the Versus website fared well too, with a 117% increase in traffic over 2008 ...   more »