A star-studded line-up that will make the heart of any sports fan skip a beat. During the four stages from 25 to 28 July, the Czech Tour 2024 peloton will be full of cyclists who have won the most famous races and have ridden the biggest stage battles on the planet countless times.
Organisers have attracted eight WorldTeam-licensed formations to the start. UAE Team Emirates, Bahrain Victorious, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Soudal Quick-Step, Visma - Lease and Bike, Ineos Grenadiers, Intermarché Wanty and dsm-firmenich PostNL are the list of teams with the best cyclists on the planet on their rosters. So, it's understandable that the Czech Tour will also see some exceptional stars.
Julian Alaphilippe will be the new icon of the peloton. The multiple world champion from France has his own clothing brand and his fame goes far beyond cycling, he is a darling of his native country. After all, this guy has won six stages of the Tour de France, dominated the climbers' competition at the 2018 Grande Boucle, and nearly took the yellow jersey all the way to Paris a year later. He has also dominated the Milan-San Remo, San Sebastian and Strade Bianche classics.
Alongside him in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey will be Kasper Asgreen, who boasts stage wins from the 2023 Tour de France, or Josef Cerny, stage winner at the 2020 Giro d'Italia and 2017 Czech Tour champion.
UAE Team Emirates jersey will dress Diego Ulissi, who has eleven victories to his name on the Italian Giro, and was the 2016 Czech Tour champion. Grand Tour triumphs are held by Maximilian Schachmann, Cesare Benedetti (both Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Emirates), Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché Wanty) and Dario Cataldo (Lidl-Trek Future Racing), who has ridden an incredible twenty-five Grand Tours!
Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché Wanty), who dominated the biggest domestic stage race in the summer of 2022, can also boast a Czech Tour victory. Soudal Quick-Step's Antoine Huby is the winner of the 2023 Under-23 Peace Race.
The Czech colours will also be strongly represented. Pavel Bittner is on the roster of the elite dsm-firmenich PostNL. The colours of the formations licensed by UCI ProTeams will be represented by other Czech prospects. Tomáš Kopecký and Adam Ťoupalík, winner of the final stage of last year's Czech Tour, wear the jersey of TDT-Unibet Cycling Team, while Petr Kelemen rides for Tudor Pro Cycling. The second highest division includes the Polti Kometa formation, co-owned by two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, Bingoal WB, Q36.5 Pro, Uno-X Mobility, Corratec-Vini Fantini and Flanders-Baloise.
Two of the best domestic formations, ATT Investments and Elkov Kasper, will also be in the peloton, while the Sagan brothers' team, Pierre Baguette Cycling, has been invited.
The Czech Tour riders will take part in a total of four stages after the presentation ceremony on Horní náměstí in Olomouc on the afternoon of 24 July. On Thursday 25 July they will ride from Prostějov to Ostrava (151 kilometres, 1418 metres elevation gain), on Friday 26 July from Zlín to Pustevny (170 kilometres, 3389 metres), on Saturday 27 July from Moravská Třebová to Dlouhé Stráně (134 kilometres, 2404 metres) and on Sunday 28 July the Czech Tour will culminate with a stage from Šumperk to Šternberk (131 kilometres, 1945 metres).
CZECH TOUR 2024 schedule
- Parade of Teams - July 24: Olomouc, Horní náměstí (17:30 - 19:40)
- Stage 1 - July 25: Prostějov - Ostrava (151.3 km / 1,418 m)
- Stage 2 - July 26: Zlín - Pustevny (172.7 km / 3 389 m)
- Stage 3 - July 27: Oravská Třebová - Dlouhé Stráně (134.1 km / 2 458 m)
- Stage 4 - July 28: Šumperk - Šternberk (129.2 km / 1 945 m)
Foto: Jan Brychta, Barbora Reichová, Soudal Quick-Step/Getty Images
