Czech Tour 2026: The Hardest Year in History and a Move into Elite Company

Czech Tour, the largest stage cycling race in the Czech Republic, is entering a new era. In the period from August 13 to 16, it will welcome top professional teams from Europe and overseas for the first time as part of the prestigious UCI ProSeries calendar. The eighteenth edition will once again start in Prague, head to Ještěd for the first time, and offer the toughest routes in the history of the race with a total elevation gain of nearly 10,000 meters and a length of 650 km. Television broadcasts will be on Eurosport and ČT Sport.

"On Czech roads, we will again see world-class cycling. The move to a higher category increases the quality of the race and the demands for top-tier facilities for riders and fans. From each stage, we are again preparing a broadcast which, thanks to cooperation with ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France, viewers will see all over the world," said Czech Tour President Robert Kolář.

Four stages that will be decided in the hills

Czech Tour 2026 will start just like last year in Prague at Vítězné náměstí, from where the peloton will set out across Czechia within four stages. The race will again offer a combination of attractive urban backdrops, an undulating profile, and demanding climbs, which in recent years have made the Czech Tour famous as an enterprise for versatile riders.

The first stage from Prague's Dejvice to Karlovy Vary follows up on last year's, measures 163 kilometers and will have the fewest elevation meters (2,311). A novelty will be the second act, which will take cyclists from Mladá Boleslav after 156 kilometers to Ještěd near Liberec, and especially the final climb with a total of 2,500 elevation meters will test the strength of the peloton. The third stage measures 171 kilometers and after 2,670 elevation meters ends at the famous Dlouhé stráně in the Jeseníky Mountains. The final stage leads from Kroměříž to Pustevny, measures 160 kilometers and cyclists will climb 2,442 meters.

"Our long-term goal is for the Czech Tour to pass through the entire republic. That is also why, alongside traditional places, we included an attractive stage to Ještěd. It is a legendary peak. And thanks to belonging to the ProSeries, our position in negotiations with teams has improved; now the participation of the best is on the table. I believe a great start list awaits us," specifies race director Leopold König.

Elite teams, rich program for fans and television broadcasts

The WorldTour team NSN (formerly Israel-Premier Tech) is heading to Czechia, as well as line-ups with a ProTeam license — Bardiani CSF 7 Saber, Burgos Burpellet BH, and Solution Tech Nippo Rali. A big attraction will also be the new American squad Modern Adventure, which is associated with the name of former star professional George Hincapie. The Czech top tier will also be presented.

The presence of the race in a higher category calendar represents a bigger draw for elite teams in the form of better point rewards for the UCI ranking — a key parameter that decides the "to be or not to be" among the best. For example, for an overall victory in a category 2.1 race, a cyclist gets 125 points; in category 2.Pro, it is exactly 200.

Czech Tour 2026 will not only be about top sporting performances, but also about the experience for spectators. In all start and finish cities, a rich accompanying program will be prepared for visitors, offering entertainment for whole families. "We are inspired by the best races in the world and we want to offer a comparable show," concludes Robert Kolář.

The prelude to the prestigious clash will be the Peace Race (Závod míru) for riders under 23 years old. This will also have four stages with a total length of over five hundred kilometers and an elevation gain of nearly 9,500 meters. The hopes of the world peloton will set out to fight from May 28 to 31 in the attractive settings of the Olomouc and Moravian-Silesian regions. This year's edition of the Peace Race will, moreover, be held for the first time in the UCI Europe Tour 2.2U category, and alongside national teams, the prospects of professional squads will also stand at the start, bringing even more significant international competition.