Czech Tour

For its 17th edition, the Czech Tour has reproduced almost exactly the route design it used in 2025. It is not an excessively hilly race, but no stage is a gift for the sprinters. The opposite is true of its Slovak sister race, held in September, which is overwhelmingly made up of flat finishes.\n\nThe opening stage, between the capital and Karlovy Vary, did end in a bunch sprint last year—won by Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost), who has claimed a Paris–Nice stage this year—and is identical in 2026. It is a tricky day with three Category 2 climbs, though none is particularly long: the final one, Javorna, has just a kilometre and a half of notable ramps at 5% and crests 25 km from the finish.