Three-quarters of the Continental riders who responded to The Cyclists’ Alliance’s 2026 survey receive no salary from their team, while only 17 per cent report regular medical screening. At Women’s WorldTeam level, that figure rises to 90 per cent, exposing a gulf in basic working conditions across professional women’s cycling.
The figures are among the central findings of the rider representative body’s State of the Women’s Professional Peloton 2026 report, released on Friday, 30 October. Its ninth annual survey received 127 responses and examines contracts, medical support, career prospects and safety across different levels of the women’s peloton.
It is not a picture of a sport standing still. Minimum salaries, maternity protections and professional support have improved at the top. The troubling finding is how little of that security reaches the Continental riders who are expected to supply the next generation of WorldTour talent.
Three in four Continental respondents receive no team salary
Among respondents racing for UCI Women’s Continental teams, 75 per cent say they receive no salary from their team. Another 79 per cent report holding only a one-year contract, leaving them with little certainty about whether they will have a place to race the following season.
Financial insecurity extends beyond wages. Some 54 per cent of Continental respondents say that their medical or physiotherapy expenses are not reimbursed, potentially placing essential treatment alongside other costs that riders must cover themselves.
The contrast with the top of the sport is marked. Women’s WorldTeams and Women’s ProTeams now operate under minimum salary requirements, while Continental teams are not subject to the same wage floor. That means riders can compete internationally for a registered team without necessarily receiving the income usually associated with full-time professional sport.
The Alliance’s 2025 survey had already shown the financial divide: 84 per cent of Continental respondents then earned less than €20,000 annually and 42 per cent had a second job. The new finding is particularly stark, although those figures measure different thresholds and come from separate respondent groups, so they should not be presented as a straightforward year-on-year increase in unpaid riders.
Medical screening gap reaches 73 percentage points
The medical figures may be even more consequential than the contract data. Regular medical screening was reported by 90 per cent of WorldTeam respondents but just 17 per cent at Continental level, a 73-percentage-point difference.
Education on nutrition and relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), which can affect hormonal health, recovery and performance when energy intake does not meet training demands, follows a similar pattern. The Alliance says 71 per cent of WorldTeam respondents have access to this education, compared with only 21 per cent of Continental respondents.
These are self-reported measures of access and do not establish that every rider without regular screening is suffering an untreated condition. They do, however, suggest that athletes training and racing at a high level can have very different access to preventative care according to the team they ride for.
The Alliance wants dependable screening, qualified medical support and proper recovery care to form part of the development pathway, rather than being benefits that riders receive only after reaching the Women’s WorldTour.
Financial instability and dangerous racing are driving retirement concerns
The reasons riders consider leaving the sport earlier than planned also differ sharply by division. At Continental level, 73 per cent of respondents cite financial instability or insufficient pay as a factor. For Women’s ProTeam respondents, physical injury or health problems are cited by 38 per cent.
Among WorldTeam respondents, unsafe or dangerous race conditions are a leading concern, identified by 40 per cent. Across the survey, 23 per cent of respondents identify negative team culture or a toxic environment among the factors that could prompt an early departure.
Those figures refer to reasons riders have considered leaving, not confirmed retirements, and the categories are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, they illustrate how the pressures change as a rider progresses through the sport: earning enough to continue at one level, medical and physical sustainability at another, and racing conditions at the top.
Road surfaces, obstacles and finishes remain major safety concerns
The Alliance’s earlier publication of its 2026 survey findings showed that 68 per cent of road-racing respondents raised concerns about poor road surfaces, 65 per cent about road furniture and 62 per cent about unsafe final kilometres.
These numbers describe riders’ concerns rather than statistically establishing the causes of crashes. They nevertheless broaden the debate beyond the finish-line barriers that have received attention in recent UCI reform discussions.
The governing body has announced that compliant barriers will be required in the final 200 metres at WorldTour and Women’s WorldTour finishes from 2027. The Alliance wants further scrutiny of course design, clear publication of injury research methods and stronger medical response arrangements, including how GPS safety technology could help locate riders following incidents.
Young riders say the pathway needs more suitable races
Another gap concerns development opportunities. Among survey respondents aged 19 to 22, 41 per cent raise a shortage of suitable development races, compared with 20 per cent of respondents aged 23 or over.
The difference matters as the sport invests in more formal development squads, including programmes operated by Canyon SRAM, Lidl-Trek and Liv AlUla Jayco. As ProCyclingUK’s guide to the women’s development pathway explains, more teams and contracts do not automatically solve the problem if younger riders cannot access an appropriate race calendar or receive enough coaching and technical preparation before stepping up.
For the Alliance, a credible racing pyramid needs both enough opportunities at the lower levels and protections that allow athletes to remain in the sport long enough to develop. A rider’s progression cannot depend solely on finding a team capable of funding the basics.
Alliance calls for enforceable reforms ahead of UCI talks
The Alliance is seeking changes in six broad areas: financial and contractual protections at Continental level; safer races and transparent safety research; consistent medical and welfare provision; independent safeguarding and reporting channels; better development opportunities; and more consistent live television coverage with transparent audience information.
It is also seeking direct representation in the UCI’s discussions on the future of professional road cycling scheduled for 9 and 10 December. The organisation has argued that rider testimony should influence how new standards are designed, funded, enforced and measured.
There is an important limitation to interpreting the latest numbers. The 2026 survey consists of 127 voluntary responses, compared with 202 respondents in 2025, and the available published summaries do not establish that the respondents form a representative sample of every rider at each level. The percentages should be read as experiences reported by those who answered, not a census of the entire professional women’s peloton.
In its earlier response to the UCI reform consultation, The Cyclists’ Alliance said the measure of any changes would be whether they deliver safer racing, dependable support and a viable route through the sport. The December talks will provide an early test of how those priorities are carried forward.
