Minimum wages for World Tour cyclists to be raised

The UCI continues to take advantage of the end of the season to make revisions to its rules and regulations. If a few days ago it updated the penalties for infractions in races, now it is the turn of the World Tour team riders' salaries after the three-way agreement with the Association of Professional Cyclists and the International Team Association.

World Tour riders to earn more in the next two years

Following negotiations between the UCI and the riders' and teams' representatives, an agreement has been reached to update the minimum salaries to be paid to riders in this category. Specifically, an amount of €42,047 gross per year has been set for 2024, a figure that will rise to €44,150 by 2025.

A minimum salary that affects all World Tour riders except the neo-professionals for whom a figure of €34,020 is set for 2024, rising to €35,721 the following year.

An agreement that only affects the men's category. As far as the Women's World Tour is concerned, it is only the UCI that has taken the lead, unilaterally setting minimum salaries at €35,000 gross per year, €29,270 for neo-professionals, which will increase to €38,000 in 2025.

There is still a salary gap between men and women although, in the successive salary updates in recent years, this gap has been narrowing, also due to the greater relevance of women's cycling, which has had a great impact, especially in races such as the Tour de France or La Vuelta a España, which have achieved their own entity on a par with their male counterparts or, from next year, the Giro d'Italia, which is now under the same organiser as the men's race.

What the UCI still has to do is that there is still no minimum salary for the Continental category, which means that there are still cases of real exploitation with riders still having to pay to be part of certain squads and to compete. Also something that has been called for on more than a few occasions, especially after the tremendous dominance shown by Jumbo-Visma during the season, is still taboo, namely the setting of salary ceilings along the lines of those in football.