Sky's riders slapped, hit, pushed and cheered on Alpe d'Huez

Chris Froome rides past fans on Alpe d'Huez, Tour de France 2013, stage 18

Outside the Team Sky bus the morning after the Alpe d'Huez stage, it was clear the riders and the team hadn't enjoyed the previous day as much as the fans.

With two climbs through some of the biggest crowds the Tour de France has ever seen, the riders spent most of the latter parts of the stage riding through a sea of people, with the close encounters.

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Michael Hutchinson is a writer, journalist and former professional cyclist. As a rider he won multiple national titles in both Britain and Ireland and competed at the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. He was a three-time Brompton folding-bike World Champion, and once hit 73 mph riding down a hill in Wales. His Dr Hutch columns appears in every issue of Cycling Weekly magazine