Money means a lot in the world of cycling, and looking at UAE Team Emirates – XRG it is easy to see this develop as the team is able to sign multiple of the world’s most successful riders and at the same time many of the brightest talents. But almost no teams are able to do this, and most teams only have around half or less of UAE’s budget. That is the case with Alpecin-Deceuninck, despite having a team that has won multiple monuments and stages in all Grand Tours this year.€27 million
That is the number which, according to Lanterne Rouge’s Luc Grefte, has been denominated as the team’s budget for the Alpecin-Deceuninck team in 2024. €26.8 million to be exact, increasing from the €19 million in 2022 and €23.8 million in 2023. There is no update on this year’s number as the year is yet to be finished however if there is an increase, it shouldn’t be significant. There is no certain number on how much UAE Team Emirates – XRG’s budget is, but both UAE and INEOS carry one of over €50 million for several years already and most sources seem to indicate a budget of €60 million for UAE. Such number is quite likely taking into consideration the extremely high €8 million salary for Tadej Pogacar, and the presence of many other world-class stars such as João Almeida, Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso; and world class talents such as Pablo Torres, Jan Christen and António Morgado that despite having a smaller role within the team, are certain to have signed already with a high salary to ensure they chose the team despite the shared leadership with many others.
Alpecin in the meantime has a team that features a very little amount of climbers and time trialists, and so most of their budget is directed towards the team’s sprinter and classics specialist blocks. Mathieu van der Poel has one of the highest salaries in the peloton – for good reason – but has also delivered two monument wins this year, besides a cyclocross world title, victory at the Tour de France and a constant media presence that is certain to give back to the team as well as his personal sponsors such as Canyon.
The team also has Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves as leaders and the truth is that despite the pressure from the Belgian team – due to the small amount of leaders – all riders have been able to perform at the highest level that could’ve been expected of them. Despite the injury-ridden spring that saw Philipsen underperform and the crash right at the start of the Tour de France, he was still able to win at the Tour (and wear the yellow jersey) and then do the same at La Vuelta (only with three stage wins) whilst Groves won at both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in vastly different manners. It’s a team that puts a lot of focus into cyclocross and mountain biking and so it continues to thrive in the goals it puts for itself, with all of its leaders also being secured and kept happy at the same time.