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The Cyclists’ Alliance annual survey found that 43% of Women’s WorldTour respondents earn more than €100,000 per year, up from approximately 27% in 2025.
The TCA annual survey, which is anonymous, asks professional female cyclists a wide range of questions about working conditions, racing, salaries and more, with the intention of creating a yearly report on the state of women’s cycling.
Whilst the survey often highlights the concerns and problems facing the women’s peloton, with safety and stability key themes of this year’s report, there are positive facts and figures too, particularly in the area of salaries in the WorldTour.
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This year’s report surveyed 118 road riders, including 42 WorldTour riders, of whom 18 reported earning over €100,000 per year, two of which reported salaries of €200,000-300,000 per year, and two in the €400,000-500,000 bracket.
In the same report last year, 27% of a 79-rider pool reported earnings of over €100,000, with some WorldTour riders even reporting earnings of under €20,000, contravening minimum wage requirements.
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This year, all WorldTour respondents reported earning over €35,000, with 29% earning up to €65,000 and 24% between €65k and €100k. A small portion of riders preferred not to share their salary.
Whilst only 42 riders out of the 252 women racing for WorldTour teams is only a small sample this year, as noted by the TCA, the pool of respondents still offers and interesting insight into the salaries earnt in the women’s peloton, with respondents reporting earnings in every bracket from €35,000-40,000 (where the WWT minimum wage sits) to upwards of €400,000.
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Though the figure of 43% likely can’t be extrapolated exactly across the whole WorldTour peloton, that figure combined with the data from last year’s survey, which had a larger sample of WorldTour riders, does strongly suggest that the number of riders earning above the €100k threshold is on the up.
According to the TCA report, it took until 2020 for the first €100,000+ salaries to be reported, with 3% of all respondents earning that much in 2020, compared to 16% of all respondents in 2026.
Whilst no rider salaries are publicly confirmed, it is believed that the handful of top riders in the women’s peloton are now earning up to and around the €1,000,000 mark, and it seems a fair amount of riders are also earning over six figures now.
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Growth at the top, but not everywhere
This year’s TCA survey had a strong focus on Continental riders, who made up 52 of the 118 road respondents, and as such it is hard to make direct comparisons between the overall results of this year and previous years, given the significantly different demographics surveyed.
However, the results from this year’s survey do show that whilst there are positive salary trends at the top of the sport, that is not necessarily being replicated across the tiers, and the situation at Continental level is particularly concerning.
Whilst WorldTour riders are earning well into the six figures, a whopping 98% of Continental riders reported less than €20,000 a year, with 75% earning no salary at all. Those that do take a salary are often earning less than €5,000, with very few reporting salaries higher than that.
With more than half of the Continental respondents also reporting unpaid travel and medical costs, most at this level have to pay to race.
There is no minimum wage requirement, or requirement to pay a wage at all, at the Women’s Continental level.
At the ProTeam level, which does have a minimum wage, the majority are earning between €20,000 and €45,000, with one respondent earning €55,000-60,000, and another rider an outlier with a salary of €95,000-100,000.
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