IT took three weeks of suffering and a stratospheric final time trial but Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates brought home the overall victory at the Tour de France.
How much did they earn in cold cash—in official prize money—for their efforts? A total of €624,230 ($734,000).
Pogačar claimed the €500,000 for winning the general classification, €20,000 for the young riders’ classification and €25,000 for the mountains classification in addition to several other prizes along the way to rake in €602,400.
Compare these figures with other sports that €1.1 billion prize purse for the UEFA Champions League, the $11 million on offer at the Superbowl and $4 million to the winner of the US Open, the prize purse of €2,293,000 seems like a reasonable number, but it’s spread across 160 riders who then share with their teammates and even team staff, making it far less lucrative than the majority of professional sports. It would just crack the top 10 in eSports.
THE money for the top overall finishers take up the majority of the Tour de France pool, with the top 10 in the GC accounting for 42 percent of the overall prize purse.
That helped UAE Team Emirates top the overall earning list. Jumbo-Visma follow in second with €342,860. The Movistar team can thank Enric Mas and the teams classification for most of their €166,790, the third-ranked team in the prize money haul.
Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep) won €25,000 for taking the green jersey and, along with cash for intermediate sprints, top stage finishes and leading the points classification, the Irishman earned €70,870. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), by comparison, brought in €35,290.
The mountains classification is the showiest, with prizes on each climb worth €200 to €850 depending on the category. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) was wise to attack on the Col de la Loze because the Souvenir Henri Desgrange was worth a whopping €5,000 at the top.
The young riders are given extra incentives, with prizes for the top young rider on the stage and the leader of the white jersey classification on each day. That and the super combativity prize worth €20,000 helped Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) take home €58,590.
Finally, the teams classification lead is worth €2,800 per day and €50,000 for the best team, so it was worth Movistar’s time to keep four riders high up in the overall standings.
Spain’s Ion Izaguirre Insausti of Astana Pro Team and France’s Pierre Latour of AG2R la Mondiale finished 159th and 160th place, respectively—from the original field of 176 riders—and brought home €300 apiece.
French judicial authorities, meanwhile, have opened a preliminary investigation into suspected doping during the Tour de France targeting the Arkea-Samsic team, the French outfit confirmed on Monday.
Following reports in the French press that two persons close to the squad led by Colombian rider Nairo Quintana—a former Giro d’Italia and Spanish Vuelta champion—were being held for questioning, cycling governing body the International Cycling Union (UCI) later said it has been in touch with a special public health unit (OCLAESP) as part of the operation carried out by French authorities.
A day after the end of the three-week Tour in Paris, Arkea-Samsic said in a statement that the team itself, the manager and staff have not been accused of wrongdoing after sports newspaper L’Equipe said gendarmes from the OCLAESP led a search on Wednesday in Meribel, in the Savoie region, at the team hotel.
The squad confirmed the raid took place last week and Arkea-Samsic manager Emmanuel Hubert said it “concerned only a very limited number of riders, as well as their close entourage, not employed by the team.”
Image credits: AP