Why do they say that Tadej Pogacar is very underpaid?

Despite his millionaire renewal, which will keep him linked to UAE Team Emirates until 2030, some voices argue that the 8 million per year that Tadej Pogacar will earn are an insufficient figure for what his figure represents for this sport, a cyclist of the era who, if he continues to break records, is on his way to becoming the best of all time, always with the permission of Eddy Merckx.

Pogacar's new salary is not that big a deal compared to other sports

The jump in salaries that the 8 million euros per year that Tadej Pogacar will receive after his renewal with UAE Team Emirates may seem like a staggering figure and, in reality, it is, compared to what has been handled in cycling. In fact, to find the next highest-paid cyclist, we have to go to the 5 million that Remco Evenepoel earns.

However, voices have not been slow to point out the comparative grievance with other sports that actually places the salaries of cyclists far from what stars in other specialties receive. One of those who has spoken out is former professional Tejay van Garderen, who in the NBC Sports Beyond the Stars podcast was blunt "Tadej Pogacar, if we look at what he brings to the sport as a star, is very underpaid."

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Van Garderen made the comparison with NBA players. In this league, a second-tier player already earns the same as Pogacar while a star, like Stephen Curry, pockets 45 million dollars a year. Looking for closer comparisons, we can see that a football player like Kylian Mbappé earns over 31 million euros per season.

According to the former American cyclist, the problem is that salaries in cycling have barely evolved in the last year. It is true that Tadej Pogacar's new contract represents a leap, but in 2012, cyclists like Chris Froome or Peter Sagan were already earning 4 or 5 million per year, which are the figures in which World Tour stars still move today.

For Van Garderen, the solution might be for organizers to share part of their earnings, for example, by sharing part of the television rights, a historical demand in the world of cycling by teams that, in recent years, have even come to consider the creation of a super league.