Luke Lamperti repeats stage 1 victory at Tour of the Czech Republic with powerful sprint in technical finale

The Tour of Czechia offers a varied route with opportunities for climbers, sprinters, and puncheurs alike. Stage 1 promised to be a tricky opener, with more than 2,000 meters of climbing—not especially long or steep ascents, but a constantly undulating profile that could make life hard for the fastest men and encourage attacks. The big question: would it still end in a bunch sprint?

Racing got underway before midday in the Czech capital, Prague. The 163 km route to Karlovy Vary featured three categorized climbs, all rated second category. The first came in the opening hour: Sýkořice (5.8 km at 4%). By then, the day’s break had already formed, a group of seven going clear after just 10 kilometers.

The move included one Dutch rider: Michiel van Vliet of Continental squad Metec–SOLARWATT. He was joined by Italy’s Nicolò Garibbo (UKYO), Czech rider Michal Schuran (United Shipping), Austria’s Daniel Geismayr (Vorarlberg), Poland’s Konrad Waliniak (Voster), Czech rider Kristián Vavro (Pierre Baquette), and Germany’s Jarno Grixa (Benotti Berthold). Their lead hovered around one and a half minutes, with Soudal–Quick Step and Astana–XDS setting the pace in the peloton.

After Nicolò Garibbo had already taken most of the KOM points on the first climb, the Italian also crested the second ascent, Tis u Blatna (2.8 km at 5.7%), and the third, Číhaná (1 km at 4.5%), in first place. He will pull on the first mountains jersey, but the fight for the stage win, and with it the first leader’s jersey, was still wide open. By then, the peloton had cut the break’s advantage to just 30 seconds with 25 km to go.

Michiel van Vliet was the last survivor of the day’s break. While his fellow escapees were swept up, the South Holland rider pushed on alone. The 21-year-old held out for a long time, but his bid ended 10 km from the line. Equipe Kern Pharma’s Iñigo Elosegui then tried to counterattack, but the Spaniard was reeled in with 4 km to go as the peloton tore through a descent.

The final kilometer was technical, with several sweeping bends. A crash was almost inevitable, but by then Luke Lamperti was already gone, launching clear to claim the win. The American was never challenged and powered to a commanding sprint victory ahead of Anton Palzer in second and Gleb Syritsa in third.