Tadej Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates have another reason to celebrate after dominating the Tour de France: They cashed in on the prize money as well.
UAE — already one of cycling’s $50 million “super teams” — won nearly a third of the Tour’s prize money pot to leave with more than any team among the 22 squads.
The team’s biggest chunk is thanks to Pogačar, who earned €500,000 (about $550,000) for winning his third yellow jersey. Add six stage wins (€11,000 each) plus the team prize (€50,000), as well as daily placings and other prize money, and UAE leaves Nice with a hefty paycheck of 806,810 euros.
The top-5 on the winner’s list largely follows the GC and prolific stage winners of the race.
Visma-Lease a Bike, with one stage win and second overall (€200,000) with Jonas Vingegaard and a top-10 with Matteo Jorgenson, is next, earning 356,220 euros.
Soudal Quick-Step, anchored by third and a stage win with Remco Evenepoel and fifth overall by Mikel Landa, is third with 248,860 euros.
Intermarché Wanty — one of the lower-rung teams on the WorldTour in terms of budget — was fourth with 111,760 euros, thanks in large part to three wins and the green jersey from Biniam Girmay.
Dead last? Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, with 16,710 euros.
The wheels came off early for the new-look Red Bull team when “Big 4” GC captain Primož Roglič and Aleksandr Vlasov both crashed out early. Efforts to win a stage later in the race were foiled, and the team’s top GC rider was Jai Hindley in 18th.
The total payout during the three-week, 21-stage Tour was €2,282,200.
How the winning’s pot is allocated
The biggest chunks are paid out in the GC.
The winner receives €500,000 — relatively paltry compared to a golfer or tennis star — and the payout decreases down the list. Finishing the Tour will earn any rider €1,000, which history-making sprinter Mark Cavendish received for arriving last in his final Tour.
Stage wins earn €11,000 daily, with each day’s top-20 earning a chunk, so there’s more than UCI points in play for finishing high each day.
The other major jerseys — green (Girmay) and polka-dot (Carapaz) — also see €25,000 payouts, while the white jersey winner Evenepoel received €20,000. UAE won €50,000 for the team’s prize.
The most combative prize-winner, this year EF Education-EasyPost’s Richard Carapaz, earned €20,000, with each day’s winner in that category receiving €2,000 per stage.
Carapaz’s excellent Tour — a day in yellow, a stage win, the King of the Mountains jersey and the combativity prize saw — helped EF earn 90,210 euros across the Tour for fifth on the ranking.
Other payouts across the Tour can add up, with €1,500 to the winner of each day’s intermediate sprint, to €500 per stage for anyone wearing yellow.
There were also special primes of 5,000 euros for the first over the highest climbs in both the Pyrénées and Alps.
How teams split the prize money
There are no hard and fast rules about how the prize money is divvied up.
Teams typically split out the prize money between the riders, with staffers also receiving a share.
Yellow jersey winners traditionally forfeit their entire share of the prize money to share among teammates and staffers. Some generous winners will also include special gifts, such as high-end watches, cars, or paid vacations for teammates. No word yet if Pogačar is giving out Richard Mille time pieces.
It can take months before prize money is collected and eventually shared among the riders and staff, and payouts typically come at the end of the season.
Riders on a top-end team like UAE or Visma-Lease a Bike might see a five-figure Tour bonuses, while teams on the lower end of the scale might see payouts of only a few thousand euros, or even less.
Of course, professional cyclists make their money with their salaries, which are now well into seven figures for the top pros, as well as via appearance fees, critériums, sponsorship deals, and other endorsements.
The annual payout for prize money might be little more than spending money for most pros, especially after taxes and contributions to the CPA retirement fund are taken out, but for backroom staffers, such as the mechanics and soigneurs, it’s a nice payback for all the hard work.
