Tour de France 2012: stage 17 – in pictures

OK this isn't France it's Blighty but it's Tour related. A bunch of British cyclists sporting yellow T-shirts and 'Wiggo' masks today embarked on a 288 mile journey from London to Paris to show their support of Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins, as he continues in his bid to become the first Briton to win the Tour de France. The riders, who have been training for months for the three-day ride, will arrive just in time to cheer Wiggins over the finishing line on the Champs-Elysées on Sunday Photograph: Getty Images for Sky Photograph: Getty Images/Getty Images for Sky Meanwhile over in Bagnères-de-Luchon photographers crowd around the man himself ahead of the start of the stage Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP Wiggins's Team Sky team-mate Mark Cavendish seems focused Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP A natty titfer of a Tour fan Photograph: Bogdan Cristel/Reuters As if speeding downhill isn't dangerous enough, the riders have dense fog to contend with as they come down Mente pass Photograph: Laurent Cipriani/AP The peloton climbs Col des Ares Photograph: Laurent Cipriani/AP Stage 16 winner Thomas Voeckler, wearing the best climber's dotted jersey, and his main rival for the jersey Fredrik Kessiakoff are part of a breakaway group Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP No prizes for guessing who this chap will be cheering on any second now when the peloton goes past Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Some youngsters take a break from a spot of horse riding to cheer on the peloton Photograph: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images Egoi Martínez of Euskaltel-Euskadi does well not to be distracted by fan running alongside him Photograph: Yorick Jansens/EPA The riders climb Port de Bales Photograph: Laurent Cipriani/AP And out of the fog Photograph: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images Wonder if she knows that Wiggo fan we saw earlier? Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP Alejandro Valverde leads the riders as they climb towards Peyragudes and the Spanish rider gets a cooling splash of water from a compatriot Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP Team Sky's Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins are on the tail of Valverde and in the final couple of kilometres are whittling down the Spaniard's lead Photograph: Yorick Jansens/EPA But Valverde does enough to stay ahead of the Sky pairing and looks extremely pleased to win the stage Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA Wiggins's performance means that he retains the yellow jersey Photograph: Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images The white jersey for the best young rider is presented to Tejay van Garderen Photograph: Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images