donrhummy

Um, no, the minimum salary is $47,000 a year for a ProTour team:
https://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/...s-it-all-mean/

pro continental is $39,000

Only 18 teams are ProTour, and those teams need at least 25 riders and no more than 30. most have 25. So that means only 450 riders are guaranteed to earn $47,000 or more. (Although, there are some Pro-Continental teams with highly paid riders)

CyciumX

Well if you are talking about Seca... then you spent 60 dollars to see them (or 30 bucks if bought @ Costco) which is approximately 60 more dollars than anyone in this entire world has ever spent to watch pros race (not including parking).. even when on the same track.. ala Sea Otter Classic. I'm sure moto riders won't need a donation fund anytime soon for dentures...

KevinB

No matter they get paid for doing something they love. There may be a few who do not love it but i doubt many people can put in the time and dedication with out love for the sport and even sniff the pro level. Also you can use the big pros sports like Football, Soccer, Basketball, baseball, hockey and say they make squat but compare them to runners gymnast, speed skaters ect. ect ect i bet there doing pretty good.

QuickityJacks

8k is the stage victory.

Cash prizes were announced along the course at intermittent sprint points as usually in the neighborhood of 500 euro, maybe 1000.

https://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/reglements.html

Either way, I don't really know if it's our business. Even if it's public knowledge in every other sport, it doesn't mean it necessarily should be.

patentcad

None of this explains why this information is so clandestine in cycling and so open in every other sport.

Velo Vol 

In keeping with the code I shall not reveal my cycling income.

Sixty Fiver

Professionally hockey and boxing are considered to be the toughest sports on earth as besides the extreme level of conditioning there is a high probability of serious injury.

Lacrosse is downright murderous.

And I have to give a nod to Aussie rules footballers.

Dr. Banzai

The fitness and carbon fibre balls required to pilot a Formula 1 car gets my utmost respect.

learnmedia

That was Justin Williams. He rides for Trek/Livestrong U23 this season. I believe he would have been classified as a neopro with Rock Racing. So yes, he made what amounts to peanuts.

patentcad

Tough sports. Sorry, not as tough as pro cycling.

roadwarrior

Think of how much they could make if the course was lined with seats. In the Tour, 2,200 miles of seats. And like baseball teams, the Tour organizers could charge $2,000 per seat for the front row.

Part of the reason is that there is no real income other than sponsor money and pathetic winnings. However, riders do make additional bonus money if they make certain races (selected for the Tour for example).

It's a free sport to watch. Last time I checked, baseball and football were not (not even on TV anymore). And the teams have to get themselves to the races, eat, stay at hotels, etc...and still no income other than sponsors and some winnings that are miniscule.

The Tour winner gets somewhere around $500,000. Compare that to a golfer winning one tournament. And the reason I use golf is that they don't get anything unless they make the cut. And they have to get themselves, and a caddie, to the tournament. And for new guys on tour, they pretty much live off of sponsor money until they make some dough. And I recall it takes about a quarter of a million to play the PGA Tour if you do it modestly. At least cyclists are taken to events by the team.

A good domestique will make less than $100,000...some a lot less. But if they make the big races, the bonus money is good and if they win, even better. Since the bike teams know they need good domestiques, and they generally won't win any races (it's not their job) they get extras to make it work for them. If you are a second tier domestique, it's tough. That's why these guys turn to pharmaceuticals. It's all many of them have. The guys I rode with, no one had finished high school. They all quit to take a shot at bike racing. We were all between 17 and 23 years old on that team. Going to college was a pipe dream. Bike racing or factory work.

roadwarrior

Vaughters said..."If you want to know what it's like to be in a bike crash, strip down to your underwear. Then I will push you out of my car at 30mph. That's what it's like."

roadwarrior

Lance makes his money off of personal sponsorships.

RedWhiteandRed

Pretty well by the standard of a minimum-wage-earning-no-health-care-having US citizen with a family of 13.

kensuf

quite often they only get to ride the bike for the season, and then have to give it back when it's over.

one of the two aforementioned pro's raced for time two years ago, and boy a bunch of us were hoping he'd be able to keep that bike. no such luck..

nitropowered

Pro Tour
30,000 euros
24,000 euros (neo Pro)

Pro Continental
27500
23000 (neo pro)

Continental
Legal minimum wage of the country
or
Minimum wage set by the national federation

Ultraslide

Maybe it's just that nobody has cared enough to look and report on it. The media loves a giant baseball contract, but skinny guys suffering for 40K just isn't news. Besides it would appear from this thread the information isn't all that clandestine, just not worth mentioning.

aecky01

I'll agree with you that hockey although tough you get a pretty good rest during the game. But boxing has got to be one of the toughest sports. Since the mid 80's over 200 boxers have died as direct result of their action in the ring. I guessing the majority of cyclist have never tried sparing but it was almost as exhausting as centuries and murderous hill climbs.

Quijibo187

Wall st. journal had an article a couple years ago on this.

https://online.wsj.com/article/SB1216...googlenews_wsj

SteelerHoo

nothing definitive, most of the following relates to the Pro Tour. below Pro Tour, people don't really care since those guys are below the radar and work at subsistence levels.

- not that many people in the U.S. care about cycling, hence there isn't deep media coverage which leads to digging into salaries. in the countries that do cover cycling exhaustively, salaries aren't as high on the list of exciting topics as they are in the U.S.

- free agency (transfer) market in cycling is less competitive than in any other sport, even for the top stars. without true bidding wars and the related drama, salaries are less of a story line. even with bidding wars, it would only cover 2-3 guys per year max, and 2-3 Pro Tour teams that could actually participate. just not that exciting to read about.

- way more cyclists capable of riding at the top level than there are spots available when compared to other sports so salaries are less inflationary. many guys would kill a relative to make a Pro Tour team and earn UCI minimum (60-80% of Pro Tour??). with pay that isn't outrageous relative to the average non-sporting wage earner it's a non-story

- in most other sports, there is some public or wider money involved and disclosure of financials is either necessary or meaningful to a wider range of people. (e.g. in the U.S. public financing of some stadiums, in the U.S. and Europe shareholder ownership of certain sporting clubs, etc.)

small dollars, small fan base in the U.S., small interest in wages

NickDavid

I don't think those guys actually get to enjoy the traveling. The last time I was dying on a climb, I didn't get the chance to look around and enjoy the views. I think, for the most part, those guys live in their hotel rooms and die on the roads.

If I had to choose a sport where I could travel, it would be professional surfing. Those guys have the life, imo.

hammy56

Toughest sport? Arguable...

IMO: Outdoor Motocross.

Peter.J

1,120,000 Euro's

Pilsley

Really?

Your fervor for your chosen sport is commendable, but don't let passion blind you from facts (Unfortunately you've hit upon a past thesis).

Boxing of all sports is quite unique, in that it's demands upon the body require the utmost conditioning across the 4 principle elements of fitness.

Strength
Speed
Suppleness
Stamina

The motor skill requirements are also very high.

Cyclists score very high in three of these categories, but when compared with other sports tend to fail in the suppleness element.

Road cycling whilst dangerous, & when things go wrong can have brutally harsh consequences - road rash, collarbones, wrists, death in some instances. Still is a sport were when the activity itself does not encounter adversity (a crash) is generally viewed as a positive endorsement on the individuals body.

Boxing by contrast is an activity were the principle endeavor of the sport puts the individual in a position of encountering bodily harm. They get their brains bashed silly when in the ring - period! To offset such traumatic consequence, it really is in the boxers best interest to be well conditioned. Damage him, faster than he can damage you. At the highest level, & discounting guys who are doing 'one last fight for the money.' It is both barbaric & beautiful at the same time.

I once got in the ring with a friend who was a boxer & we....danced around a little. All pads & protection of course. Christ! The speed with which he moved was incredible. After 3 minutes I was gasping for breath (yes specificity comes into play here, but still?) he was smiling his head off @ the end of it. Do that for 12 or 15 rounds...the toll on the body is incredible.

Mr. Beanz

Zactly! Cycling is an endurace sport. But lets put Lance in his prime in the backfield of a pro football game. Getting hit and tackled by a 230 lb linebacker and 300 lb linemen would lower his endurance from hours to minutes, if he last that long!

Boxing? Well we've all seen vidoes of the tour riders fighting like Charro!