With 11 stages now in the books, the riders will look to keep their title hopes alive as Tour de France 2014 heads into Bourg-en-Bresse for the 12th stage of this year's Le Tour.

After a grueling 187.5-kilometer race on Wednesday, the 12th stage is expected to be as exciting as the previous one as it features a 185.5-kilometer route from Bourg-en-Bresse to Saint-Etienne.

Like the previous one, the 12th stage course is categorized as flat, but will have two category 3 and two category 4 climbs. Thursday's climb is relatively easier compared to Wednesday's climb, though, as the riders will only encounter a maximum of 5.1 percent incline for the day.

A 1.7-kilometer climb awaits the peloton in Col de Brouilly, which will be followed by a 3.8-kilometer, category 3 climb in Cote du Saule-d'Oingt. The third climb will be the longest one at 15.3 kilometers, but the 9.8-kilometer, category  4 climb could separate men from boys in the race.

Peter Sagan of Cannondale is considered as favorite in this type of race, while Tony Gallopin, the stage 11 winner, could pose serious threat to Sagan and overall leader Vincenzo Nibali.

Nibali is still comfortably ahead in general classification with a total time of 46 hours, 59 minutes, and 23 seconds. The Astana rider is 2:23 ahead of Team Sky's Richie Porte, 2:47 ahead of Movistar's Alejandro Valverde, 3:01 ahead of France's Romain Bardet, and 3:12 ahead of Lotto-Belisol's Gallopin.

Below is the general classification top 10 heading into stage 12 on Thursday:

  1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Astana) 46:59:23
  2. Richie Porte (Aus/Team Sky) +2mins 23secs
  3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +2mins 47secs
  4. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R) +3mins 01secs
  5. Tony Gallopin (Fra/Lotto-Belisol) +3mins 12secs
  6. Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ) +3mins 47secs
  7. Tejay van Garderen (US/BMC) +3mins 56secs
  8. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra/AG2R) +3mins 57secs
  9. Bauke Mollema (Ned/Belkin) +4mins 8secs
  10. Jurgen van den Broeck (Bel/Lotto-Belisol) +4mins 18secs

Fans can catch the action on NBC and through live streaming via NBC Live Extra. The Tour de France 2014 route map is available here.