"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Pro Cycling Economics

I'm not new to cycling, but I am fairly new to pro cycling, and I was wondering how the money flows. I know that some of the big teams have budgets in the $10 million to $15 million range. My question is, what do they spend it on? How much for riders? How much for the director? How much for equipment? How much for R&D? How much for employees? And what kind of people do they employ? Engineers? Marketing? etc. I'm also curious as where the money comes from. Are the teams completely funded by their sponsors? Are there any prize payouts for race wins? If so, who gets that money? Who are the tour organizers and do they have to pay to host an event or do they get paid? Is there a web site where I could find this info? I've looked and all I've been able to find is the team budgets.

Thanks.

Good questions. Let's hope someobdy has the answers and is willing to share.

what do they spend it on? How much for riders? How much for the director? How much for equipment? How much for R&D? How much for employees? And what kind of people do they employ? Engineers? Marketing? etc. I'm also curious as where the money comes from. Are the teams completely funded by their sponsors? .

Prize money is normally split equally between the team that took part in the race it was generated on, this includes riders, mechanics, masseurs etc for the TdF. Team leaders like LA normally forego their cut as they're going to make a whole lot more from personal deals. I remember reading an interview with Robert Miller (Polker dot jersey TdF) who said he always made sure his mechanic and masseur were well looked after so he'd get to be first on the message table and get his bike ready first.
I don't know about wages, but most teams will have full time mechanics/masseurs who will in addition to their obvious duties act as drivers to and from stages. There will be a few part time mechanics etc who only come into play when there are a lot of races on. I don't think their wages are great, but whilst they're with the team their food and rooms are paid for and if you love cycling it's a great place to be.
I'd guess R&D is normally handled by the bike manufacturers, who know if they come up with a feature that's adopted by the teams they're involved with then they stand to gain on world wide sales.
On riders wages the UCI say there is a minimum, which I think (but could be wrong) is 20,000 Euros. but there will be plenty of riders in the smaller teams (the one's you don;t see at Le Tour) who get way below this and will basically be riding for a bike and a jersey.
On the TdF (or other Grand Tours) the teams will have 3 Directors (managers), 3 or 4 masseurs and 3 or 4 mechanics, top this off with a driver or two. Many teams will have their own doctor, some have their own cook, Press officer, assistant Press officer, Sponsors repesentitive the list is pretty long, you're basically looking at a small (or not so small) business that spends 3 weeks on the road in France.
Some of the very small pro teams will have a director and a couple of part time mechanics/masseurs. Lots of the time at smaller races riders basically fend for themselves much like you or I do.
I'm not to hot on the money side, but I hope that give you an over view of some use.
Cheers.

In the late 90's Festina had a system where all the prize money went into a pot, and then it was split between the riders, after the cost of all the doping products was subtracted.

As I posted in another, similar thread here ...

Here are the 2005 guaranteed minimum salaries for riders, written into the UCI "Joint Agreements" document:

Continental Teams
New Pro Other rider
€20.000 €23.000

UCI ProTeams
New Pro Other rider
€24.000 €30.000

In the late 90's Festina had a system where all the prize money went into a pot, and then it was split between the riders, after the cost of all the doping products was subtracted.

LOL

so they got very little :)

Thanks for the replies. That does give a little more insight into how the teams finance their efforts.

One more Q. For the big teams (say, >$10 million), how many riders are on the team?

ProTour rules (Published 2004) required between 14 and 25 riders. However, some of the current teams have 26 or 27 riders.

Continental teams are limited to between 8 and 16 riders.