Lecerf, the winner of the second stage on Dlouha strana, achieved the overall victory even though one of his biggest rivals, Cian Uijtdebroeks, passed him with about three kilometres to go and built up a seemingly decisive lead. However, a group of nine Visma-Lease a Bike team members finished in the last tens of metres, which was enough for Lecerf to maintain his lead.
The Belgian from the Soudal Quick-Step stable finished third in the stage just ahead of Pridale, beating compatriot Uijtdebroeks by seven seconds in the final classification on Sunday and second overall. Italy's Alessandro Fancellu was third by eight seconds. Pridal was the best of the home riders in 16th position.
The most important stage race on Czech territory culminated in Pustevny for the first time. The riders completed the six-kilometre climb twice on Sunday, and as expected, the overall winner was decided on the second climb.
Uijtdebroeks ran out of strength
With less than four kilometres to go, the top trio of riders in the standings broke away from the leading group, which had already fought for the top spot on Friday during another tough climb up Dlouhe strane. Uijtdebroeks, third overall, was the most active, shaking off first second-placed Fancellu and then Lecerf, riding in yellow, with repeated climbs from the saddle.
The eighth man from the 2023 Vuelta gradually built up a lead of around ten seconds, which would have been enough to take the overall lead, but he ran out of energy at the end, and the group caught him. After last week's Tour de l'Ain victory, Uijtdebroeks narrowly missed out on a second consecutive stage race win.
Lamperti claimed opening stage
The Czech Tour began with a dominant win by American rider Luke Lamperti, who won the opening stage for the second year in a row.
It was the sixth victory of his professional career and his first one since his win a year ago at the opening round of the Czech Tour.
In a dramatic finale, the American overtook Italian Davide Donati and Russian Gleb Syritsa to claim the stage win, whilst Czechia's Dominik Neumann narrowly missed out on a podium.
Two podiums in final three stages gives Lecerf yellow jersey
After that opening stage, the story of the Tour quickly turned to the Belgian rider Lecerf as he edged to victory ahead of fellow countryman and rival for the yellow jersey, Cian Uijtdebroeks.
Stage three would see Luke Lamperti get another podium in second behind Australia's Liam Walsh, before Lecerf would come back strong in the final stage to take overall victory.