Some pathetic niggle, the wrong way to provoke (6)
I believe the answer is:
incite
'provoke' is the definition.
(inciting is a kind of provoking)
'some pathetic niggle the wrong way' is the wordplay.
'some' indicates a hidden word (some of the parts of the word are used).
'the wrong way' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'eticni' can be found hidden inside 'pathetic niggle'.
'eticni' back-to-front is 'INCITE'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for incite that I've seen before include "Urge (to violence)" , "Move to action" , "Foment or arouse" , "Whip up" , "drive" .)