The Big Loop commemorates the Great War

Sarajevo Grand Prix: a pack for peace on 22nd June
Several days before the anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the event that triggered the conflicts which led to the First World War, a pack of 5,000 cyclists from all over Bosnia-Herzegovina will come together in Sarajevo. They will be accompanied by champions who have left their mark on the history of the Tour de France, such as Bernard Hinault, Bernard Thévenet, Joop Zoetemelk, Stephen Roche or Greg LeMond. After a ride between Eastern Sarajevo and the city centre, the 140 professional riders in attendance for this event will race each other on a 120 kilometre route through fourteen towns in Bosnia-Herzegovina populated by the country's three main communities.

7 stages, from Nord to Vosges, follow the Western Front of the Great War.
The route of the Tour de France 2014 will pay tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in the trenches by visiting, over seven stages in the north and east of France, places marked by the fighting in the Great War. For example, during the 6th stage between Arras and Reims, the pack will ride along the Chemin des Dames, which was the theatre to major combats in spring 1917. On 10th July, the riders will pass by fields of cornflowers. To mark the occasion, the support staff and caravan personnel will be invited to wear a cornflower: this symbol of remembrance of the soldiers that fought on the Chemin des Dames will also be present in the protocol ceremony, on the white jersey of the best young rider as well as in the bouquet awarded to the day's winner.

Fly-over of the Champs-Elysées by the Patrouille de France aerobatics squad
Following their presence for the start of the 100th edition of Le Tour last year in Corsica at Porto-Vecchio, the planes of the Patrouille de France will accompany the Tour de France pack on its entrance into Paris on 27th July. A short moment before the end of the race, the eight Alpha Jets will congratulate the riders about to finish the Big Loop with their aerobatics and will salute the many spectators positioned on the final circuit of the race's last stage.