Switchbacks
Far more than merely a bend in the road, the mountain switchback is a star turn
Switched on
France’s Alpe d’Huez has 21 of them, each stationing a numbered sign, annointed with the winners from Tours de France past. Slovenia’s Vršič Pass has 50, also numbered (the idea was borrowed here for the Alpe) and has the original cobblestones still intact on its northern side. The French Alps’ Lacets de Montvernier squeezes 17 of them into just 2.5 kilometres - one every 147 metres, carved precipitously into the mountain in an absolute triumph of 1930s engineering.
Switchbacks might seem like just a bend in the road to outsiders, but at the pace of the cyclist they are much more; they are a place to count your progress to the summit, a time to reset and recalibrate, or recover from a buffeting headwind. They’re a moment to marvel at the work you’ve done and fear the work which is yet to come. On the descent, they are a test of skill and nerve, and a place of attack to gap a less accomplished rival.
Round the bend
Probably the most famous switchback in cycling - the seventh hairpin on Alpe d’Huez - is none of these things, not primarily anyway. This is ‘Dutch Corner’, the raucous, fancy dress-advised party venue of the Tour de France for the hardcore of Netherlands supporters. It’s an all-day event, where the beer flows easy and big tunes hype up the crowd. While the race leaders simply want to make it through the throng unscathed, the grupetto - the rear end of the race behind the peloton – are in need of all the encouragement they can get and are happy to ham it up for the fans. Come for the cycling, stay for the circus.
Straight jacket
While the common link between all switchbacks is the full or partial U-turn that the road takes on the bend, the degree to which a switchback is considered respite depends on both the corner itself and the line that you take. On smaller, more direct mountain passes, such as the Jura’s Mont du Chat or the Pyrenees’ Col de Marie-Blanque, the switchbacks can be just as steep as the straights. Alpe d’Huez’s, meanwhile, are entirely flat at their widest points, allowing the very fit a sufficiently long period to recover before the steep straight arrives.