From Rimplas, the route drops back into the Tinée valley and follows the river north. Past Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée and Isola, the landscape becomes steadily more alpine: narrow valley sections, steep wooded slopes, then wider mountain flanks around Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée. This is where the long climb to the Bonette begins. The road rises through Bousiéyas in broad bends into bare high-mountain terrain, where trees give way to rock, grassland and old military structures. Around Restefond, the route reaches its highest section before the long descent into the Ubaye valley. Jausiers sits at the end of the stage as a classic Alpine base between the Bonette, Col de Vars and Barcelonnette.
