Agnel Pass (2744m)

the first kilometers to Molines-en-Queyras are not extremely diffcult (6-7%); the road is protected from the sun by the forest, and we discover the "demoiselle coiffée" in the trees.
At Molines, the quality of the road surface is quite poor, the road is not very wide at some points and the direction to follow is badly indicated. After the village, the slope gets steeper (8%) before en easier part near to Fontgillarde; here again the road is not very wide (when passing through the village).
After Fontgillarde, there remains a last climb before the top: 7km at about 9-10%. There are two hairpins 4km to the finish; the slope gets easier a little bit before a strong increase up to the top.
Agnel is the highest border pass in Europe.

immediately, the slope is quite hard but not for a long time: up to the dam at Chianale. Then, the road continues softly along the river, and straightens out for a while. Finally, we reach a first hairpin announcing a brutal increase of the slope: big gears will suffer !
The road rises quickly after only a few hunderd meters, and we can observe the valley on the left. After a first right-turn, the road continues in the forest. The slope is over 10% up to the top, except the last 200 meters, and the road turns often. We go out of the forest quite quickly before a left hairpin used as parking place; after the next turn, the slope is terrific (>14%) in a long piece of straight road. Then, two successive turns give access to a sloping ledge (200m) in a big left loop. Afterwards, there are a lot of very regular turns up to the top.