How Much do Pro Cyclists Make?

The world of cycling sees a wide gulf between how much pro cyclists earn and the many many cyclists scraping by at the bottom of the Continental level. Compared to other sports though – like football – cyclists actually still earn relatively ‘normal’ incomes through their sport.

In this article, I’m going to attempt to show some of the known figures for riders across different levels of men’s cycling and the difference in money between men’s and women’s cycling.

2020 saw some changes in pro cycling. The men’s WorldTour stayed the same but the Pro Continental level was renamed the Pro Series. The Women’s WorldTour meant something slightly different and there was a women’s Pro Series level of races too for the first time. However, no Pro Continental level for women’s teams.

As this post was first written in 2019, the terms used are to reflect the naming conventions of that year.

Which pro cyclists earn the most?

Now, this isn’t a definitive list. Just like in the real world, not everyone likes to tell people what they earn. As such it’s a list of only the numbers I could actually find and even those may require being taken with a pinch of salt. There are some big names missing from this list like Julian Alaphilippe who signed a new contract at Deceuninck-Quickstep in June 2019 after his excellent Tour de France. But it should give an idea of a professional cyclist salary.

Tadej Pogačar’s net worth is unknown but in 2021 he confirmed what is reputedly the highest paid contract in pro cycling at the moment. It was also one of the longest at 6 years but this has been matched by Juan Ayuso in 2022, although not with Pogačar’s net worth.

Prize Money and other incomes

What this table also doesn’t include is the extra money that pro cyclists earn through prize money. I covered all of the teams’ and riders’ prize money from the 2019 Tour de France, which showed just how big the payoffs are for winning. It also showed the little money some riders get to supplement their wages after 3 weeks of hard racing.

The prize money for races varies massively. The total prize pot for the men’s Amstel Gold in 2019 was €40k and just €10k for the women’s race. Some races are bucking this trend and offering equal prize money, such as the Tour de Yorkshire. It’s important to note that all of the salaries listed here do not include prize money winnings or endorsements.

Appearance money is another source of income and is rarely openly discussed. Allegedly, Chris Froome received €2 million just to take part in the 2018 Giro d’Italia for instance.

At the end of 2017, it was reported that half of the women’s peloton was earning under €10,000 a year. 17% were earning nothing at all and a touch over 50% also had second jobs to supplement their racing career. At the same point in time, just 11% of women’s riders were earning more than €34,000. An amount that’s comparable to the minimum wage in men’s cycling.

How much do professional cyclists make?

So we’ve seen what the star riders earn, what is a regular pro cyclist salary?

Well, the average pro cyclist salary for a WorldTour domestique is between €100,000 and €400,000. You’re looking at the likes of Tim Declercq and Julian Vermote in this category (although Vermote’s stock has fallen a bit as of 2021). The guys who don’t necessarily get the glory themselves yet put in a tonne of work to benefit the team. Georg Preidler was reportedly on €170,000 for FDJ during 2017-2018. Tadej Pogacar’s first contract with Team UAE Emirates was supposedly for €70,000 before being quickly redrawn after winning the Tour of the Algarve in his first season.

A super-domestique type rider can earn anywhere between the high-end of that range and the bottom of the table above. Geraint Thomas salary was reported to be €1-1.5 million in 2018, then he won the Tour de France and now finds himself earning €3 million.

Pro cyclist salary – minimum wages

At certain levels in the sport of cycling a minimum wage structure appears but below that level riders will potentially be on much less money to race. In 2019, the UCI minimum wage for men’s Pro-Continental level cyclists was €30,855. For the WorldTour, that number is €40,045.

There’s been some reasonable progression in these minimum wages since 2013. Back then a Pro-Continental cyclist would get at least €30,250 and a UCI WorldTour minimum salary for a rider was at least €36,000.
For 2018, the current Pro-Continental UCI minimum wage of €30,855 was introduced and WorldTour riders were now able to get at least €38,115.

Neo-pros at both levels get slightly less. these were set at €25,300 for Pro-Continental neo-pros and €29,370 for WorldTour level neo-pros in 2013. These increased in 2018 to €25,806 at Pro-Conti level and €30,893 for WorldTour level riders. The current numbers are €26,322 and €31,609.

There’s no minimum pro cyclist salary for those racing at Continental level, so some will be receiving an income but plenty won’t be. I wouldn’t expect their salaries to be higher than the neo-pro rates except maybe for high profile riders at that level like a Davide Rebellin or Adam Blythe – even then probably not by much. It’s often thought that 2.2/1.2 races aren’t considered as professional races, so you’ll often hear of a rider taking their first pro win at a higher level.

For women, the situation is closer to that of the Continental riders than any other level. Up until now, there has been no minimum wage at all for women cyclists. 2020 will be the first season with a minimum wage, but only for women on the 8 WorldTour teams. For 2020, it will start at €15,000, with plans to then increase it gradually over the next three years.

If things go to plan, the minimum wage will rise to €20,000 in 2021, to €27,500 in 2022 and become equal to Pro Continental men’s teams by 2023. The number of women’s WorldTour teams should also have grown by then too. Now that Boels-Dolmans have confirmed sponsorship until 2023, they should be able to jump to WorldTour status from 2021. There is no official neo-pro status for women but this is also aiming to be introduced in 2023. Full details from the UCI here. One suggested salary for Annemiek van Vleuten at Movistar is €250k a year. I’ve also seen a salary for Marianne Vos whilst at her peak at Rabo-Liv of €400k.