MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Millionaires and minimum wage: Inside the new landscape of WorldTour pro cycling salaries

An illustrated image of Tadej Pogacar and Demi Vollering surrounded by money and a graph.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

When looking for perspective in cycling, Tao Geoghegan Hart is often a good voice to turn to. Recently, as he met the media ahead of the 2025 season, the conversation turned to the push for reform in the sport. The Lidl-Trek rider was mostly in favour of evolution but cautioned that the status quo isn’t as bad as some are making out. “I have friends in many different enduran♚ce sports, and there’s not 1,000 people making a very good living [from those sports], but in cycling there are. And it’s easy to forget that,” the Londoner said.

Part of the sport’s millionaire club, an ever-growing list of riders whose annual salary is at least one million euros, Geoghegan Hart’s comments reflected th💟e reality on the ground: professional cycling, men and women, has never been richer. Team budgets have risen exponentially – the median among men’s WorldTour teams in 2024 was €25m, up from €18m in 2019 – and the average male rider salary, according to the UCI’s official figures presented at the WorldTour seminar in late November, stands at €501,000. In the women’s peloton, it won’t be long before a rider(s) joins the millionaire club – and some think that watermark has already been breached.