News & Events – Over There: 2014 Tour de France Shadows Western Front, Stage 7 (11 July) Runs Through Meuse-Argonne

French Poilu with BicycleInterested in the Great War and can’t get “Over There” this Summer?  Watch the Tour de FranceFrance’s annual endurance race kicks off in York, UK on Saturday, 5 July.  The first three stages are in the U.K., but stages four through ten (8 – 14 July) shadow the Western Front.  On 11 July stage seven runs through the Meuse-Argonne and Saint Mihiel Salients on a 235km (140 mile) trip from Épernay to Nancy.  After starting in Épernay, the tour proceeds through Châlons-en-Champagne; then on to Sainte-Menehould, les Islettes and Clermont-en-Argonne; before heading northeast through Dombasle-en-Argonne on its way to Charny-sur-Meuse and Bras-sur-Meuse.  After Bras, the tour follows the D913 through the Verdun forests and the D24 past Douaumont.  Then it heads southeast through the St. Mihiel Salient. The webmaster’s only complaint:  It’s not a perfect battlefield tour. The route could have been drawn to go through or past many more key points:  Varennes, Vauquois, Verdun, to name a few.