A first season in the UCI ProSeries, the strongest field in race history and a route packing almost 10,000 metres of climbing into four days. Czech Tour 2026 delivered four stage winners, crashes, breakaways, Czech success stories, emotional moments and a GC battle that went right down to the final climb. Here are ten moments that defined the 18th edition.
1. ProSeries for the first time
One historic moment came before the first pedal stroke. Czech Tour lined up for the first time as a UCI ProSeries race, the second tier of the international calendar. The start list featured 125 riders from 30 countries, including Mikel Landa, Jack Haig, Jan Hirt and several other riders with major Grand Tour pedigree.
2. Sheehan opens with an American win
The first yellow jersey went to Riley Sheehan. The American from NSN Cycling Team handled the 163-kilometre opening stage from Prague’s Vítězné náměstí to Karlovy Vary and beat Ben Turner of Netcompany INEOS in the bunch finish on Divadelní náměstí. Czech Tour had begun with a head-to-head battle between two WorldTour teams.
3. Ještěd makes its debut – and changes the race lead
Czech Tour’s first-ever summit finish on Ještěd did not disappoint. Andrew August got the better of Alessandro Fancellu in the finale, won the stage and moved into the yellow jersey. The 20-year-old American had effectively launched a three-day duel with the Italian that would last all the way to Pustevny.
4. Otruba’s yellow-jersey hopes derailed by a crash
Jakub Otruba came to Czech Tour shortly after making his Tour de France debut and made no secret of his ambition to fight for a top result on home roads. But four kilometres from the top of Ještěd, a major crash happened in front of him. The Czech rider was held up and his hopes of fighting for yellow took a huge blow. In a matter of seconds, one incident had changed the entire shape of his race.
5. Ježek delivers on home roads
While Otruba suffered bad luck, Václav Ježek made the most of racing on familiar terrain, cheered on by family, friends and former team-mates. He was the best Czech rider on the stage, narrowly beating Jan Hirt, took the red jersey and jumped 22 places to tenth overall.
6. The peloton pays tribute to Finlay Tarling
The start of stage three in Pardubice had a very different atmosphere from the previous two days. Following the tragic death of 19-year-old Finlay Tarling of NSN Development Team at the Volta a Portugal, the entire peloton gathered for a minute’s silence. NSN riders stood on the front row wearing black armbands. The tragedy also had a deeply personal connection to INEOS: Finlay was the brother of their rider Joshua Tarling.
7. August strikes again
On Dlouhé stráně, the same two riders went head-to-head once more. August and Fancellu came into the finale of the queen stage together, and once again the American proved stronger. A second stage win in as many days confirmed that his yellow jersey was no fluke.
8. Ježek takes fourth and stays in the hunt
Václav Ježek was one of the standout riders of the day as well. He finished fourth on Dlouhé stráně and moved up to seventh overall, just four seconds away from the top five and 29 seconds from the podium. He eventually finished Czech Tour seventh overall, placed fourth in two stages and took home the red jersey as the best Czech rider. For a 21-year-old making his Czech Tour debut, it was a remarkable first appearance.
9. Three breakaways and the polka-dot jersey for Schuran
Michal Schuran turned Team United Shipping’s late invitation into one of the best Czech stories of the race. He spent three of the four stages in breakaways, steadily collecting points on the classified climbs until he secured the overall mountains classification and the polka-dot jersey.
10. Seven seconds decide Czech Tour
The final showdown between August and Fancellu came on Pustevny. The Italian finally found a way past the race leader and won the stage, but the yellow jersey stayed out of reach. August defended his overall lead by just seven seconds and became the winner of Czech Tour 2026. The emotion at the finish was heightened when he dedicated his victory to Finlay Tarling.
The 18th edition delivered exactly what had been hoped for from Czech Tour’s move into the ProSeries. Three summit finishes produced a GC battle that lasted until the final day, Czech cycling had Ježek inside the overall top ten and Schuran in the polka-dot jersey, and 20-year-old Andrew August showed why is honoured as one of the standout talents of the next generation.
