Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
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.