How to ride hairpins (video)

Common place on a multitude of climbs, hairpin bends are the perfect opportunity to break an ascent up both psychologically or physically. But how do you ride them to perfection?

(Image credit: chris catchpole)

The hairpin bend or a switchback, are 180-degree corners, which are usually a feature of long climbs in mainland Europe and perhaps most famous for being scattered up the 21 bends of Alpe d'Huez.

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Paul Knott is a fitness and features writer, who has also presented Cycling Weekly videos as well as contributing to the print magazine as well as online articles.  In 2020 he published his first book, The Official Tour de France Road Cycling Training Guide (Welbeck), a guide designed to help readers improve their cycling performance via cherrypicking from the strategies adopted by the pros.