Paris-Roubaix Femmes will have a prize pot of €50,000 ($54,000) for 2022, organizer ASO told VeloNews.
That marks a sevenfold increase of the total prize fund from the inaugural edition in 2021, which came in at a tiny €7,005 ($7,500), the minimum amount mandated by the UCI.
While the overall prize fund is still smaller than the men’s — which awards €30,000 ($32,000) to the winner for a total prize fund of €90,000 ($97,000) — it is a significant step up from last year.
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With a larger pot, the winner Saturday is set to receive far more than what Lizzie Deignan got in October.
This year’s champion will ride away with €20,000 ($21,600), with €10,000 ($10,800) going to second place compared to the €1,535 ($1,650) and €1,135 ($1,225) for first and second, respectively, from 2021. That is 13 times more than last year’s winner’s check.
That amount matches the prize money given at the Tour of Flanders, which upped its offering to match the men for this season.
The huge step up in prize money comes after online fitness platform Zwift was announced as a title sponsor for the event. The company is already partnered with ASO as the title sponsor for the inaugural Tour de France Femmes.
Though the inaugural edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes was well received and seen as an overwhelming success, ASO received criticism from many for its tiny prize pot. The amount given for the first edition was the minimum required by the UCI for a WorldTour one-day race.
Deignan was fairly diplomatic in her response to questions on the matter after winning last year’s race with an 86km solo break. Her Trek-Segafredo team matched the women’s prize money with the men’s, thus making up for the disparity.
“Obviously, the first step is that we have a Paris-Roubaix. And I think that’s a huge step forward. And I’m very grateful that I get to be part of this history that is being banded around. We are part of history now, and there’s no going back, and I think that’s incredibly important,” she said last year.
“Obviously, the prize money is disappointing, but I think it’s a nice moment to point out what my team Trek-Segafredo is doing. They’ve been equaling the prize money to the male equivalent races that we’ve been doing, not just at this race, but the whole season,” she said. “It takes initiatives like that kind of support from sponsors and brands to push the boundaries and each aspect like that we need to keep pushing, we’re not there yet. But we’re not being silent about it anymore. I think that’s important.”
The second edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes is set for Saturday, with the riders facing a slightly longer 124km race to Roubaix.
After television coverage missed the race-winning move on the opening sector of cobbles in 2021, that too has been beefed up to ensure live pictures capture all 17 of the pavé sectors.