The 2014 Tour de France is reaching its penultimate stages and the peloton is set to face the shortest but most challenging courses on Wednesday.

The riders will participate in a 124.5-kilometer race from Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Lary Pla d'Adet. It is the shortest stage of this year's route but it could shake up the general classification. They are facing three Category 1 climbs and an uphill finish.

The first Category 1 climb will be at Col du Portillon (1,292 meters), followed by Col de Peyresourde (1,569 meters) and Col de Val Louron Azet (1,580 meters) respectively, before the riders take on the most challenging climb of the day -- an uphill finish on the vaunted Pla d'Adet slopes.

Astana rider Vincenzo Nibali will be the man to watch on Wednesday's race as the Italian is looking to maintain his grip on the yellow jersey.

Nibali is still comfortably ahead in general classification. He is four minutes, 37 seconds ahead of Movistar rider Alejandro Valverde and five minutes, six seconds ahead of FDJ.fr rider Thibaut Pinot.

But while Nibali holds a comfortable lead against Valverde and Pinot, the Astana ace rider is expected to go all out as he is trying to prove his doubters wrong. Critics are saying that a victory for Nibali in this year's race would mean less because early favorites Alberto Contador and Chris Froome crashed out of the tour.

"Why would it mean less? I won almost all the races where I stared last year, where Alberto Contador and Chris Froome were also racing," Nibali said via Cycling Weekly. "The only one I didn't race was the Tour. The season went perfectly last year with first in the Giro d'Italia and second in the Vuelta a Espana, I don't consider myself a step behind those riders."

Below is the general classification, top 10, heading into Stage 17:

  1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Astana) 73hrs 05mins 19secs
  2. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +4:37secs
  3. Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ.fr) +5:06secs
  4. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra/AG2R) +6:08secs
  5. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R) +6:40secs
  6. Tejay van Garderen (US/BMC Racing) +9:25secs
  7. Leopold Koenig (Cze/NetApp) +9:32secs
  8. Laurens ten Dam (Ned/Belkin) +11:12secs
  9. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol/Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) +11:28secs
  10. Bauke Mollema (Ned/Belkin) +11:33secs

Cycling fans can catch the 17th stage of this year's Le Tour on NBCSN and through online streaming via NBC Sports Live Extra. Complete classification can be seen on this link via letour.com, while the full route map is available here.

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