When searching for perspective in biking, Tao Geoghegan Hart is commonly a great voice to show to. Recently, as he met the media forward of the 2025 season, the dialog turned to the push for reform within the sport. The Lidl-Trek rider was largely in favour of evolution however cautioned that the established order isn’t as unhealthy as some are making out. “I’ve mates in many alternative endurance sports activities, and there’s not 1,000 individuals making an excellent dwelling [from those sports], however in biking there are. And it’s straightforward to neglect that,” the Londoner stated.
Part of the game’s millionaire membership, an ever-growing record of riders whose annual wage is no less than a million euros, Geoghegan Hart’s feedback mirrored the fact on the bottom: skilled biking, women and men, has by no means been richer. Team budgets have risen exponentially – the median amongst males’s WorldTour groups in 2024 was €25m, up from €18m in 2019 – and the common male rider wage, in keeping with the UCI’s official figures introduced on the WorldTour seminar in late November, stands at €501,000. In the ladies’s peloton, it gained’t be lengthy earlier than a rider(s) joins the millionaire membership – and a few assume that watermark has already been breached.
We needed to dig slightly deeper into the numbers and the developments to seek out out simply how worthwhile a profession as a professional bike owner actually is in 2025.
More and extra seven determine salaries
In an official UCI doc seen by Cyclingnews, the 18 males’s WorldTour groups collectively spent €226.5m on rider salaries in 2024, with groups spending on common €12.6m on their most quota of 30 riders. One staff, regarded as UAE Team Emirates XRG, had an outlay of €27.3m on salaries, and on the backside finish of the size, assumed to be Intermarché-Wanty, complete salaries amounted to €5.2m.
In 2025, that determine has risen additional, with a number of superstars enhancing their contracts considerably: Cyclingnews has been in a position to affirm that Tadej Pogačar’s wage has grown from round €6m to north of €8m, whereas Remco Evenepoel’s earlier wage of round €2m (excluding bonuses) has swelled to between €4.5 and €5m. Jonas Vingegaard earns round €5m, Mathieu van der Poel €4m, and each Wout van Aert and Primož Roglič pocket €3.5m from their respective groups yearly. They’re on the prime finish of the incomes charts, however every year extra riders be part of the millionaire ranks.
“Every staff has, at a minimal, two riders on 1,000,000 – some even have seven to eight,” agent João Correia, who runs the Corso administration firm, stated. “If you undergo every staff’s roster and shortly add that up, I think about there’s 75-100 on no less than million euro contracts. There’s positively 50, on the very least.” Of these surpassing the 2 million benchmark, Correia speculates there are greater than 30.
His counterpart, Alex Carera of A&J All Sports, shares the identical thought: “There are 22 large groups, and I’d say the median is three riders incomes 1,000,000 per staff. So there are kind of 65 riders on 1,000,000 or extra,” the Italian stated. Other brokers estimated 70.
The common wage of €500,000 is bloated by the millionaires – that’s not a real illustration of what the everyday domestique earns. Cyclingnews spoke with six brokers and the final consensus amongst them was that the median wage is between €250,000 and €300,000.
“Teams are realising that it’s now not sufficient to have two or three star riders after which simply fill the remainder of the staff with whoever else – you additionally want an excellent midfield, whether or not that’s a leadout practice for a sprinter or climbers for a GC chief. And that’s working within the favour of these mid-ranking riders as a result of it prices an increasing number of to signal them,” stated Dries Smets, a Belgian agent for Wasserman.
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Historically, neo-pros – first yr seniors – can be put straight on a minimal wage: in 2025, that determine for self-employed riders (defined beneath) within the males’s WorldTour is €58,582, and €35,721 for employed riders; these quantities respectively rise to €72,404 and €44,150 for non-neo-pros.
The youth revolution, nevertheless, has upended the rulebook – even when there are nonetheless many on round €80,000 contracts. “In the previous, neo-pros signed for the minimal contract, however biking’s modified. The greatest neo-pros, those who win Tour de l’Avenir or the World Championships, can now earn between €150,000 and €500,000,” Carera stated. Cyclingnews is conscious of some neo-pros incomes considerably greater than half-a-million.
One agent added: “Until Covid, if a neo-pro managed to rise up to €100,000, it was thought-about rather a lot, however these days, and particularly within the final two or three years, younger and really gifted riders are very wanted available on the market and may go as excessive as €200,000. That’s triple the minimal wage.”
On the broader topic of minimal wage, all brokers agreed that only a few riders have been on minimal contracts. “I haven’t seen a number of groups paying minimal wages for riders for a very long time as a result of it’s arduous for riders to reside on that wage,” Correia stated.
Cycling’s gender pay hole
When wanting on the girls’s peloton, the story is considerably completely different: minimal wages are much more frequent. “There aren’t many males on minimal wage, however there are many girls,” Carera stated. Only launched in 2020 with a minimal wage of €15,000, Women’s WorldTour riders now should earn a minimal of €62,320 in the event that they’re self-employed, and €38,000 in the event that they’re contracted. The quantities for neo-pros drop to €52,000 and €31,768, respectively.
The median staff price range of the 15 girls’s WorldTour groups is €3.6m, Cyclingnews understands, with groups sometimes averaging a roster of 17-18 riders. The majority of riders within the girls’s area earn between €80,000 to €100,000, with extra vital domestiques and occasional race winners incomes between €150,000 and €250,000. A top-10 rider takes house between €300,000 and €500,000, with the largest champions nudging in direction of €850,000.
When Vollering, broadly considered one of the best present feminine GC rider, introduced that she was leaving SD Worx final spring, there have been varied studies that UAE Team ADQ had tabled a suggestion to make the Dutchwoman the primary feminine rider to earn an annual wage of €1m. Vollering as an alternative went to FDJ-Suez.
Among the assorted brokers Cyclingnews spoke to, there was disagreement over the salaries of the present highest feminine earners. “I feel we’re already seeing million euro contracts within the girls’s area – I consider that’s been damaged,” Correia stated. “We don’t signify any of them, however I’m pretty positive two or three of girls earn over 1,000,000. And if not, they’re fairly rattling near it.” Other brokers, nevertheless, dismissed Correia’s perception. “I don’t assume there’s three that make over €1m,” one stated. “I feel they’re just under that mark.” Carrera stated: “In two or three years, for positive we’ll see girls on over a million, however proper now they’re not incomes that.”
As a rule of thumb, the upper the wage, the much less a rider’s win bonus. There are outliers, although: Evenepoel obtained large successful bonuses from Soudal Quick-Step for successful his world and Olympic titles, in addition to the 2022 Vuelta a España, whereas Cyclingnews understands that Tom Pidcock earned €1m for every WorldTour race or Olympic or world title victory when competing for Ineos Grenadiers.
Most riders can count on to obtain between a couple of thousand euros and €15,000 in the event that they win a stage of a WorldTour race, rising to €20,000-€100,000 for a Grand Tour stage, and €50k to €500,000 for successful a Monument, relying on the staff and rider’s base wage. French groups pay out a giant bonus for the French National Championships. But not everybody may be so fortunate. “There are groups who say we do not give bonuses as a result of riders receives a commission to race and rating outcomes,” Smets stated. “Big title riders particularly are on good salaries and may not get a bonus for a race that they’d be anticipated to do nicely in.”
Performance-related bonuses are frequent for youthful riders and may work in varied methods, Correia defined: “Quite a number of contracts have wage triggers, whereby if an athlete does this efficiency their wage improves. And these days with UCI factors extra vital, we’re seeing riders get rewarded based mostly on what number of UCI factors they’ve earned.”
Typically, a staff will completely personal the picture rights of a rider, however exceptions may be made for sure riders who search exterior sponsorships. “There’s an even bigger battle between male riders and their groups over non-team sponsors, however in feminine biking, it’s rising in popularity,” Smets stated. “There’s much less historical past, and groups are extra open to pondering: if it is good for the rider and does not damage the staff, why not?”
Demi Vollering signed a private sponsorship take care of Nike final yr, whereas the likes of Van Aert and Pidcock are each individually sponsored by Red Bull. Some riders have watch or automobile offers that may exceed €100,000, and others have partnerships with home companies which might be often value between €20,000 and €30,000.
“It’s very country-specific,” defined Correia. “A Belgian rider has extra sponsorship alternatives as a result of they’re biking mad, regardless that Belgium’s promoting market isn’t large, whereas Pidcock being British has extra alternatives than riders from small nations do. Some marquee riders can negotiate phrases on picture rights with their groups, however often groups personal the picture rights and may say sure or no to those endorsements. Usually they’ll say sure if it’s a nationwide firm and isn’t a competitor to the staff’s personal sponsors.” Most riders have private offers with shoe manufacturers that present a couple of free pairs of sneakers, however some riders may obtain a couple of thousand euros on prime. “The greatest riders will obtain €50,000 or extra for a shoe deal,” one agent stated.
Riders can typically make further cash competing in end-of-season and/or post-Tour de France criteriums in Belgium and the Netherlands, however due to the extra journey concerned, look charges are at a premium. “To take part in a single crit is minimal €100,000 for one of the best riders,” one stated.
Where a rider (and their staff) can actually earn large cash is that if large races pay for his or her participation. RCS, the organisers of the Giro d’Italia, has a protracted historical past of paying look charges, and reportedly handed Bora-hansgrohe a cheque of €1m for Peter Sagan race the 2020 version of the Corsa Rosa. They additionally dedicated to paying Soudal Quick-Step for Remco Evenepoel’s involvement in 2023 however didn’t pay out, in keeping with the staff’s boss Patrick Lefevere. “Because Remco didn’t end the Giro, they [RCS] didn’t need to pay the agreed beginning charge,” Lefevere stated. “Remco’s beginning cash within the Giro – in observe a sum for a bundle of RCS races – can be certain that we now have a price range for an additional rider.”
Agent charges, self-employed riders and annual go away
The construction of a rider contract varies from staff to staff, with Smets revealing that “some groups have the usual UCI contract of seven pages which doesn’t include a lot sophisticated language, to some groups who’ve 45-page contracts that are extra advanced and have much more clauses.” One necessary inclusion is that groups can’t object to their riders starting or persevering with finding out.
French and Belgian groups by regulation should make use of their riders, accounting for round 40% of the boys’s peloton. In an employed contract, groups should present well being, life and everlasting incapacity insurance coverage, and a pension that equates to a minimal of 12% of the gross annual wage. Self-employed riders need to cowl the entire above themselves. Agents sometimes take between 5-7.5% in fee of all rider earnings.
Of the assorted clauses and obligations, if a rider is injured or falls ailing by way of no fault of their very own, they’re entitled to 100% of their wages for the primary three months, diminished to 50% thereafter. “But I’ve by no means seen that enforced,” Correia acknowledged. “And both manner, there are insurance coverage insurance policies athletes can take out that cowl them within the occasion that they get injured they usually lose a part of their wage.” Riders are additionally permitted 35 days of annual go away per yr, however Correia stated that “nobody actually appears at that, both. It’s in each contract however it’s not monitored. Riders solely go on trip within the low season.”
Most contracts embrace a clause prohibiting riders from collaborating in sports activities which might be deemed harmful, akin to automobile racing, parachuting or snowboarding; groups have begun to loosen the final regulation, although, with cross-country snowboarding and ski mountaineering extra accepted as helpful cross-training.
As discussions over One Cycling proceed apace, and the game hopes to proceed attracting further funding, that’s all excellent news for the protagonists and people representing them. “When a staff’s price range grows, so too does the rider’s wage,” Smets stated. “Of course, the groups have service programs and automobiles, however their actual belongings are the riders. We’ve seen a giant enhance in price range since Covid and it appears prone to proceed.”
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