The Tour de France 2012 moves into its "Queen Stage", Stage 17 which will be a long, brutal day in the Pyrenees.
The 143.5 km stages starts in Bagneres-de-Luchon, features five categorized climbs, and finishes on a mountain top finish up the Plateau de Peyragudes.
Stage 17 starts off with the 9.3 km climb up the Category 1 Col de Mente which features 9.1 percent gradients that should toughen up the peloton. The Mente reaches its summit with 116 km to go in the stage.
The next categorized climbs are the relatively short Category 2 Col des Ares and Category 3 Cote de Burs which have their summits at 88 km to go and 67.5 km to go, respectively.
Intermediate sprint points are available at 62.5 km to go, though it appears that Peter Sagan (Liquigas) has wrapped up the green jersey competition.
Following the sprint points, the riders will begin the slow ascent up the hors category Port de Bales. The summit of the Bales comes at the 32 km to go point in the stage.
A daredevil descent down the Port de Bales greets the riders upon crossing the summit.
At the 15.5 km to go mark, the riders will begin ascending up the final climb of the day towards the Plateau de Peyragudes.
It is a brutal final climb that sees some relief when the riders cross the summit of the Col de Peyresourde at the 6.5 km to go.
After a very brief downhill portion, the final kilometers are all uphill to the Plateau de Peyragudes.
A breakaway will definitely form on the first climb of the day up the Col de Mente. Watch for Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Fredrick Kessiakoff (Astana) to get in the breakaway for the competition for the King of the Mountain polka dot jersey, which Voeckler leads by a slim 4 points after yesterday's stage win.
The GC race has essentially come down to three riders: Bradley Wiggins (Sky), Christopher Froome (Sky), and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas). Yellow-jersey holder Wiggins leads the other two riders by over two minutes.
As teammates, Wiggins and Froome will not attack each other, but only try to mark a Nibali attack. Nibali's Liquigas team will need to challenge Team Sky on the early climbs and then attack on the final climb of the day, in order to have a chance at the overall GC lead.
Nibali attacked on the final climb of Stage 16, but Wiggins and Froome were both comfortable marking the attacks by pacing each other back.
Defending Tour champion Cadel Evans (BMC) lost major time on Stage 16, allowing teammate and white jersey holder Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) to ride freely.
However, Van Garderen, Jurgen Van Den Broek (Lotto), and Zubeldia (RadioShack) have already lost major time to Wiggins, and will likely look to just consolidate the positions in the GC.
It is possible for other riders further down in the GC standings like Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Chris Horner (RadioShack), and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) to try to get into the breakaway to jump up the GC.
Stage 17 certainly promises to be an exciting stage. Keep your browser here for live streaming coverage of Stage 17 of the Tour de France below.
*** Stage 17 has ended, please click here for the latest live coverage of the Tour de France: /world-others/
