The gemara says that because of Leah's davening and tears she merited having Reuven, the bechor born to her. But in the zechus of Rachel's selfless "tznius" of giving over the simanim to Leah to prevent her from embarrassment, she earned back the rights of the bechor (Yosef got a double portion in EY by both Ephraim and Menashe taking a share). The gemara rejects the idea that Reuven lost rights to the bechor because of moving the beds, rather even if he wouldn't have done so, Yosef would still be the bechor.
Yakov calls Reuven ראשית אוני, which means that she was conceived on his wedding night with Leah (rashi on vayechi 49:3 based on yevamos 76a), prior to Yakov's marriage to Rachel which occurred a week later. Tosafos in Yevamos 76a explains that although it isn't typical to get pregnant from the first bi'ah, Leah did get pregnant with Reuven from the first bi'ah. Therefore, Rachel wasn't even a candidate to have the bechor since she wasn't even married to Yakov at the time that Reuven was conceived. But, the gemara means to say that the tefilos of Leah prior to her marriage to Yakov, to avoid marrying Eisav, earned her the zechus to be the first wife of Yakov thereby having the Bechor. Then the gemara says that Rachel received the rights of the bechor back as a result of her "tznius". The gemara isn't saying that Rachel earned it back in the merit of the great "tznius" or chessed that she exhibited. Rather, the gemara is saying that she was entitled to it all along. The only reason she lost it was because she was concerned about her sisters embarrassment, so Hashem made it that the act of kindness she did wouldn't cause her to lose the rights of the bechor.
The difficulty is that after everything is said and done, Leah's tefillos didn't seem to help at all because ultimately, Rachel's child Yosef became the bechor. Why does the gemara say that Leah's tefillos helped, when in fact they didn't help at all? Perhaps the gemara is saying that her tefillos helped that she actually married Yakov, because had Yakov married Rachel first he would never have married Leah at all. So, Leah's tefillos earned her the marriage with Yakov and the right to Bechor, but since the bechor rights only came from Rachel's selflessness, she eventually got it back. But, the gemara seems to be saying more than that. It seems to be saying that Leah's tefillos even earned her some bechor rights. But, those rights were given back to Rachel?
The pasuk says in divrei hayamim (1:5:1) - ובני ראובן בכור ישראל, כי הוא הבכור ובחללו יצועי אביו ניתנה בכורתו לבני יוסף בן ישראל ולא להתיחס לבכורה. Rashi in divrei hayamim explains that Reuven was the bechor and should have been king, but lost rights of being king by moving the bed, and it was given to Yosef. However, Yosef didn't merit the malchus either because his "bechor" he wasn't given those privileges. The Rashbam on our daf learns this pasuk differently. The Rashbam learns that Reuven only lost monetary rights to being the bechor and the double portion was given to Yosef, but Reuven still retained the status of being the bechor - דלעולם ראובן קרי בכור ישראל. Based on this, the tefillah of Leah did in fact earn her the zechus of having Reuven who would always have status of the bechor, even though the double portion was given to Yosef.
Regarding the contradiction, that the pasuk indicates that Reuven lost rights to the bechor because of moving the bed, whereas the gemara says that even if not for that story, Yosef would have gotten it? Perhaps the Yosef deserved it anyway, but unless Reuven did something to lose it, Hashem couldn't have taken it from him.
Regarding the issue of "tznius" - why was Rachel's action called tznius, it was really chessed to prevent her sister from embarrassment? Furthermore, in Midrash Eicha (pesicha end of 24) the midrash considers the act of Rachel to be a midah of overcoming jealousy, for which she asks Hashem that He should also overcome the קנאה of the Jews worshiping Avoda Zara just as she overcame jealousy for her sister and provided the simanim. In what way is this "tnzius"? Rashi in megilla 13b says מסרתן ללאה, והוא צינעות שלא יתפרסם הדבר שמסר לה סימנין. Rashi seems to be saying that the middah may have been chessed or overcoming jelousy, but the action was that of tznius. The primary embarrassment for Leah wasn't that Lavan was using her to trick Yakov, rather the embarrassment was that Yakov took the initiative to give simanim to Rachel in order to avoid marrying Leah. This would be devastating to Leah for the entire community to realize that Yakov made up simanim with Rachel, just to avoid marrying Leah. The rejection by Yakov was far more embarrassing than Lavan using her to trick Yakov. Rachel did an act of "tznius" to conceal the simanim and hide it from the community, so that her sister would suffer the embarrassment of publicizing her being rejected by Yakov.
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