Top 20 Earners in the Pro Peloton Revealed.

blazing_saddles

It's bound to get a response, hence a thread of it's own.
CW have published a list of the top 20 salaries in the pro peloton and here there are.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates): €6.0 million
Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation): €5.5 million
Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies): €5.5 million
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers): €3.5 million
Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers): €2.8 million
Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers): €2.5 million
Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl): €2.3 million
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar): €2.2 million
Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers): €2.2 million
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma): €2.2 million
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan): €2.1 million
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma): €2.0 million
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix): €2.0 million
Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers): €2.0 million
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ): €2.0 million
Romain Bardet (Team DSM): €2.0 million
Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech): €2.0 million
Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers): €1.9 million
Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic): €1.9 million
Fernando Gaviria (UAE Emirates): €1.8 million


To me it's a no brainer.
Best value: Primoz Roglic
Worst Value: Chris Froome (ISN paying Bugatti money for a model T ford)

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/froome-earns-more-than-van-aert-sagan-on-more-than-roglic-report-reveals-top-20-male-pro-cycling-salaries

RichN95.

It looks a bit like guesswork to me. Who would have this information? There’s no way DSM are paying Bardet 2m. And no way is Viviani getting 1.9m. He was signed as a favour to Ganna

rick_chasey

No huge surprises I guess?

RichN95.

I think a lot of these salaries will be dependant on performance bonuses

ocdupalais

A Model T Ford with 7 Grand Tours, global reach and the capacity to stick a 4 storey billboard on the side of it isn’t really a Model T Ford though, is it?
He’s a Toyota Landcruiser.

ocdupalais

The choice of every respectable Qatari and Saudi.

ocdupalais

Or Israeli.

ddraver

Someone needs to, fair dinkum, give Froome a job negotiating world peace if he's managed to get that...

RichN95.

ddraver said:

Someone needs to, fair dinkum, give Froome a job negotiating world peace if he's managed to get that...

He doesn’t even have an agent

ddraver

Well exactly...

Gotta respect the hustle

carbonclem

Geraints punching above his weight too, I’d suggest.

m.r.m.

It's fairly typical. Most athletes get paid for past not future performance.

RichN95.

m.r.m. said:

It's fairly typical. Most athletes get paid for past not future performance.

Particularly when earnings are sponsorship based. Michael Jordan is still raking it in. In 2017 Arnold Palmer made $40m. He died in 2016

gsk82

This really looks like tosh to me. There's no way Geraint Thomas's contract, which was signed at the start of this season, is worth that much. Same goes for Kwiatkowski who signed last season. It's just click bait.

neonriver

I loved this statement

“ Meanwhile, Kwiatkowski is paid a lot for his services and has appeared at times to give up personal goals to work as a super-domestique for Sky/Ineos. His last win came in 2020, and he has won 15 times over his seven years with the outfit, compared to 13 times over six years in his younger times in cycling.”

So he now only wins 2.14 times a season compared to 2.16 times before he moved to sky/ineos

pblakeney

The point is that super-domestiques are not supposed to win so his wins are a bonus.
Effectively taking the money up front instead of chasing glory. Being professional.

seanoconn

Half of Froome’s earnings come from his gripping YouTube content.

pblakeney

seanoconn said:

Half of Froome’s earnings come from his gripping YouTube content.

Key point there. The report says "salary". That would be before sponsorship and other incomes. It muddies that point. There is a difference between salary and earnings.

me-109

The write-up even states it is best guess estimates, so what sources would anyone have to assess any of that? Contract details other than duration are not usually made public. Do teams have to report salaries to the UCI?

rick_chasey

You could just enjoy the list as discussion fodder.

Oooooooor you can just dispute all the numbers which you can't prove anyway.

kingstongraham

I can easily believe Froome is right up there. Moved at the end of his contract, when it wasn't clear he was done after the accident, to a team that was desperate for a big name, and gave hime a long contract. Got lucky by being out of contract with Sky/ineos at exactly the right time.

Kwiatkowski higher than Alaphilippe is amazing.

shirley_basso

Agree. I'd have thought Ala would be way higher up.

G doing well!

Ben6899

RichN95. said:

m.r.m. said:

It's fairly typical. Most athletes get paid for past not future performance.

Particularly when earnings are sponsorship based. Michael Jordan is still raking it in. In 2017 Arnold Palmer made $40m. He died in 2016

Lemonade.

kingstongraham

Who has the big sponsorship deals in cycling?

No idea how much zwift pays those boys, and red bull must pay a decent whack to wout for wearing that silly hat.

ddraver

Zwift can't be that lucrative with so bloody many people dipping into that pot...

I don't think Red Bull pay too well, the benefit comes with the support they provide in other areas - at least for many of the "extreme" athletes.

hanshotfirst

kingstongraham said:

Kwiatkowski higher than Alaphilippe is amazing.

Not totally surprised by this to be honest. If you look at the budgets of the two teams, one being funded by a petrochemical giant vs one funded (mostly?) by a laminate flooring company it's night and day. I'd expect most Ineos riders to be on higher salaries than QS riders.

Isn't Lefevere not known for not paying big bucks as well. even to the top riders? Nobody is bigger than the team, so do you want to win on a team that has a track record of winning consistently in the biggest one day races in cycling or do you want money because if it's the latter you're welcome to go elsewhere.

Not even Alaphilippe's biggest fan but he clearly has an insatiable thirst to win every race he enters so might as well stick around at a team that supports that while he's still at his peak and can always take the payday later in his career when he starts to fade (if he ever does).

kingstongraham

Point taken, and he's not exactly on the poor list as it is, but Alaphillippe seems to do OK when in a French only team as well.

yorkshireraw

RichN95. said:

It looks a bit like guesswork to me. Who would have this information? There’s no way DSM are paying Bardet 2m. And no way is Viviani getting 1.9m. He was signed as a favour to Ganna

Think they said these were 2021 salaries (although they've put the current teams) - so that would have been his Cofidis (estimated) salary.

Agree on Bardet (and Pinot) - v poor VFM.

andyp

yorkshireraw said:

RichN95. said:

It looks a bit like guesswork to me. Who would have this information? There’s no way DSM are paying Bardet 2m. And no way is Viviani getting 1.9m. He was signed as a favour to Ganna

Think they said these were 2021 salaries (although they've put the current teams) - so that would have been his Cofidis (estimated) salary.

Agree on Bardet (and Pinot) - v poor VFM.

French riders on French teams (obviously not Bardet now he's at DSM) command a premium. It's not just restricted to France either, the same applies to most countries, i.e. Ineos pay a premium for British riders because they are valuable to the sponsor.

You've also got to separate publicity value from results, so someone like Pinot is worth more because he's flying the flag for a French sponsor in French races, even though his best results have been in Italy.

yorkshireraw

andyp said:

yorkshireraw said:

RichN95. said:

It looks a bit like guesswork to me. Who would have this information? There’s no way DSM are paying Bardet 2m. And no way is Viviani getting 1.9m. He was signed as a favour to Ganna

Think they said these were 2021 salaries (although they've put the current teams) - so that would have been his Cofidis (estimated) salary.

Agree on Bardet (and Pinot) - v poor VFM.

French riders on French teams (obviously not Bardet now he's at DSM) command a premium. It's not just restricted to France either, the same applies to most countries, i.e. Ineos pay a premium for British riders because they are valuable to the sponsor.

You've also got to separate publicity value from results, so someone like Pinot is worth more because he's flying the flag for a French sponsor in French races, even though his best results have been in Italy.

Yes understand about Pinot - the irony being that all the focus on him in France seems it could be detrimental to his performances. No surprise he performs better in Italy where he probably doesn't feel the weight of expectations.

m.r.m.

Maybe the competition was just lighter in those specific races in Italy. He never was a tier 1 rider. All his wins come from some type of lack of competition.