The Col de Turini sits entirely within the Arrondissement of Nice in southern France. The road linking La Bollène-Vésubie to Moulinet via the summit serves as the primary route between two river valleys, the Vésubie and the Bévéra. The pass is characterised by numerous tight hairpin bends, precipitous drops, and scenery typical of the Maritime Alps, factors that have made it as demanding as it is spectacular.
The Col de Turini has featured as a stage venue in the Monte Carlo Rally for decades, regularly covering approximately 31 kilometres from La Bollène-Vésubie up to the summit and then descending to Sospel, or on occasion in the reverse direction. Its narrow road, relentless sequence of hairpin corners, and unpredictable surface conditions — ranging from dry asphalt to ice and snow depending on altitude and weather — make it one of the most technically demanding rally stages in the world.
For many years the stage was run at night, a tradition that drew thousands of spectators to the mountainside. The sight of high-beam headlights cutting through the darkness earned the nocturnal passage the name "night of the long knives" among rally fans, who lined the hairpins in the cold to watch cars slide through at the limits of adhesion. When the stage format later shifted to daytime running, the spectacle changed but the technical challenge remained unchanged.
The Turini is widely regarded as the centrepiece of the Monte Carlo Rally, the event that opens the World Rally Championship calendar each year. Its combination of altitude, changeable grip, and confined road width tests tyre choice and driver judgment simultaneously, and split-second decisions on whether to run studded tyres, soft compounds, or intermediates can decide rally outcomes when conditions differ between the upper and lower sections of the stage.
Beyond its WRC role, the Col de Turini carries a broader cultural presence in the driving world. It was featured in the first episode of the tenth series of Top Gear, when the programme's presenters used it as a candidate for the greatest driving road in Europe, a recognition of the pass's standing among enthusiasts well outside the rally community.
In cycling, the col appears occasionally in major French races. The western ascent from Lantosque measures 15.3 kilometres at an average gradient of 7.2 percent with a maximum of 9 percent, while the longer southeastern ascent from Sospel covers 24.1 kilometres at an average of 5.2 percent. It has featured four times in the Tour de France, in 1948, 1950, 1973, and 2024, as well as in the Paris–Nice stage race in 2019.
The Col de Turini represents the archetype of Alpine rally special stages and its geometry — long sustained climbs, blind crests, and tightly stacked hairpins — has influenced the design vocabulary of rally simulation stages. The Monte Carlo Rally's notoriety for mixed-surface, mixed-condition running in which tyre strategy is as important as raw speed makes the Turini one of the most discussed and recreated stage environments in rally gaming communities.