Cycling’s highest-paid stars include Team GB Olympic gold winner | Other

It will come as no surprise to cycling fans that three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar is the highest-earning athlete in the sport for 2025. But he’s far from the only man making a mint as the peloton powers to Paris.

Cycling may not have the same lucrative reputation as other mainstream sports, but it’s evident the elite possess the potential to rake in the big bucks. Just ask yellow jersey-holder Pogacar, who signed a new deal with UAE Team Emirates XRG worth a reported £7million per year in 2024. That figure proves it’s not only on the track that the Slovenian, who crashed earlier on in this year’s Tour, tends to be miles ahead of the competition. Remco Evenepoel is the second-highest earner competing at the Tour de France, yet his annual salary is only £4.3m, not far off half of Pogacar’s earnings. The Dutchman could have topped the list himself, however, considering he reportedly turned down an £8.7m-a-year offer to join Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Instead, he remained with Soudal-Quick Step and received a much more modest bump to his wages.

Speaking of the Red Bull team, rider Primoz Roglic can take his bronze to the bank on a reported £3.9m salary. Pogacar’s countryman was a late arrival to the sport after only taking up pro cycling at the age of 23, but 12 years later, it’s fair to say he’s made up for lost time.

Coming in joint-fourth place are Jonas Vingegaard and Mathieu van der Poel, who are each understood to earn £3.5m apiece per annum on their current deals. Vingegaard, 28, was reportedly on a deal worth just £400,000 a year when he won the first of his two Tour de France titles in 2022, but his value on the circuit has skyrocketed since then.

As for Van der Poel, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider recently had to withdraw from this year’s Tour after he was diagnosed with pneumonia. The Dutchman was third in the green jersey standings at the time of his departure, which came after the second rest day.

Wout van Aert and Briton Adam Yates sit just outside the top five earners on £3m and £2.35m, respectively. Van Aert shares a fierce rivalry with countryman Van der Poel and is considered one of cycling’s most well-rounded athletes for his success in other disciplines.

The same can be said for Britain’s Tom Pidcock, who is one of the few members of this list not competing on the current Tour de France. Though he has represented Ineos Grenadiers in the competition before, the Yorkshireman and two-time Olympic gold medallist in cross-country doesn’t look likely to return anytime soon.

Leeds-born Pidcock earns a not-so-shabby £2.3m per year, similar to Ineos’ Egan Bernal, another familiar face absent from the 2025 Tour. The 2019 Tour champion is yet to make his way back to the elite end of the sport since suffering serious injuries after crashing while training in Colombia three years ago.

Bernal rakes in a reported £2.2m per year, identical to Grenadiers team-mate Carlos Rodriguez, who finished seventh on last year’s Tour but is hoping to better that in 2025. The 24-year-old signed a new contract until 2027 a couple of years ago, evidence Grenadiers knew exactly the kind of talent they had on their hands early on.