![\"Money](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CORVOS_00038835-825.jpg\")
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News & Racing<\/a><\/p>\n Unlike many top sports, cycling is notoriously tight-lipped about what its stars are paid. Here’s what we know about cycling’s big money men.<\/p>\n There was a time \u2013 not even that long ago \u2013 when winning lots and lots of bike races didn\u2019t earn riders riches for life. They still had to work post-career. Look at three-time Tour winner and double world champion Greg LeMond, the signer of cycling\u2019s first million-dollar contract who morphed into a do-it-all entrepreneur (he\u2019s even investing in a carbon fibre business<\/a> in Grimsby, England \u2013 but that\u2019s a story for another day).<\/p>\n Nowadays, it\u2019s a completely different landscape. There are an estimated 80 millionaires in the men\u2019s peloton who, if they manage their piggy banks sensibly, are set for life. The other 420-plus riders in the WorldTour don\u2019t do too badly, either.<\/p>\n Figures from the International Cycling Union (UCI), obtained by Escape Collective, show that the average 2026 wage for riders who are directly employed by their teams (meaning their team pays social security fees and other employment costs, an arrangement that accounts for 57% of the WorldTour) is \u20ac384,000, while the median is \u20ac216,000. For self-employed riders, who work for their teams as independent contractors and therefore bear those additional costs themselves, the average salary rises to \u20ac654,000, and the median sits at \u20ac350,000.<\/p>\n But who are the richest 10, the top of the top earners? Which bike riders pocket the most money on an annual basis? That information is a bit tougher to come by.<\/p>\n Escape has spoken with half a dozen of the sport\u2019s biggest agencies and shared information with other insiders in the sport to compile cycling\u2019s 2026 rich list. All figures, which are very well-informed, but still estimates, only refer to a rider\u2019s base salary and do not cover bonuses, additional private sponsorship, or money earned from appearance fees, such as a lucrative criterium contract or appearing on TV as a pundit.<\/p>\n Tadej Poga\u010dar, 27, UAE Team Emirates-XRG: \u20ac8.4 million No surprise here, the four-time Tour de France champion and (probably) greatest bike rider of all time is biggest earner of them all. For now (see honourable mentions, below). And thanks to his dominance, which began when he won his second successive Tour de France in 2021, he has been in the top spot for quite some time.<\/p>\n This post is for subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CMB-mug-shot-aspect-ratio-99-99-150x150.jpeg\")
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