Professional Cycling For the Fans - What Kind of Money Do These Guys Make?

What kind of salary do riders receive? Not including bonus or sponsorship money, but what kind of base salary might any team member (Astana, Saxo, Garmin, etc) make? So if a professional cyclists gets a call from the Astana director and he offers him a job what kind of money would be offered?

No I'm not looking for part time work, I'm just curious :-)

Chris

Here's (http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/02/pro-team-structure-what-does-it-all-mean/) something I found.

These guys don't have time to spend money anyways....they are on the bike 4-8 hours a day. I'd imagine their travel to and from races is covered and I'd imagine lodging and food is often covered as well.

Zorro's article pretty much covers it $38,000 minimum for a neo pro, $47,000 otherwise. The UCI put out a figure the other day that the average salary of a UCI pro elite team rider was $267,000.

However that's the mean, not the median, and is inflated by 7 figure salaries for a relatively small number of riders.

In addition to salaries, the riders get to keep prize money, with the winnings typically split equally amongst the team. So that's going to be a decent supplement to the rider's income.

Elite Pro cycling is still not much money compared to other major professional sports. But it's gotten to the point that its more than subsistence wages.

These guys don't have time to spend money anyways....they are on the bike 4-8 hours a day. I'd imagine their travel to and from races is covered and I'd imagine lodging and food is often covered as well.

I am at work 4-8-12 hours a day and I still manage to find time to spend all my money.

In addition to salaries, the riders get to keep prize money, with the winnings typically split equally amongst the team. So that's going to be a decent supplement to the rider's income.



Not quite.

It is a tradition for the winner to split his official price money, which for the Tour would be roughly $450,000 euros, among riders and staff on his team (amount at the winner discretion).

In Lance's case, he liked to give his teammates and additional bonus from his own private accounts. It was easy for him because he stood to gain millions in endorsements and sponsorships.
Landis had made publicly (when riding for Lance) his cut of the Tour prize money was 50K and Lance added an extra 40K on top of that. Many of his domestiques were in the range of 75K annually.

Not quite.

It is a tradition for the winner to split his official price money, which for the Tour would be roughly $450,000 euros, among riders and staff on his team (amount at the winner discretion).

In Lance's case, he liked to give his teammates and additional bonus from his own private accounts. It was easy for him because he stood to gain millions in endorsements and sponsorships.
Landis had made publicly (when riding for Lance) his cut of the Tour prize money was 50K and Lance added an extra 40K on top of that. Many of his domestiques were in the range of 75K annually.

75k to be a domestique on one of the worlds best teams?!!!

Thank you college degree, thank you thank you thank you.

Still, that was a while ago, I have to imagine they are making a bit more then that these days.