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WorldTour salaries 2026 · top 50 · 527 riders priced
The highest-paid cyclists in 2026
Tadej Pogačar is the best-paid rider in the men's WorldTour in 2026: €8.2M a year before tax, a figure reported in the press. Behind him 81 riders are paid more than €1M and 32 more than €2M, while the median WorldTour rider earns €308k. This page ranks the fifty best-paid riders in the peloton, with the year each contract runs to and whether the figure is one the press has reported or one our model estimates: 25 of the 50 are reported, the rest are estimates. Salaries in cycling are set on signing day and run to the end of the contract, so what a rider is paid says as much about the season he signed in as about this year's results. The method is published, every reported figure is linked to its source, and corrections are made in public.
The 50 highest-paid riders in 2026
Gross base salary for the 2026 season, before tax. Bonuses, prize money and personal sponsors are not included.
The top ten, one by one
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 27) — €8.2M a year, reported in the press, under contract to 2032. 4881 PCS points in 2026.
2. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, 26) — €6.6M a year, reported in the press, under contract to 2028. 3241 PCS points in 2026.
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike, 29) — €5M a year, reported in the press, under contract to 2028. 2424 PCS points in 2026.
4. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech, 31) — €4M a year, reported in the press, under contract to 2028. 1230 PCS points in 2026.
5. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, 36) — €4M a year, reported in the press; his contract ends in 2026. 633 PCS points in 2026.
6. Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike, 31) — €4M a year, reported in the press; his contract ends in 2026. 1372 PCS points in 2026.
7. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech, 28) — €3.2M a year, reported in the press, under contract to 2028. 2162 PCS points in 2026.
8. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM, 24) — €3M a year, reported in the press, under contract to 2028. 904 PCS points in 2026.
9. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek, 23) — €3M a year, reported in the press, under contract to 2030. 1010 PCS points in 2026.
10. Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike, 33) — an estimated €2.8M a year, under contract to 2029. 942 PCS points in 2026.
Highest-paid rider on each WorldTeam
One name per team, biggest wage first. A leader at a small team can earn less than a helper at a big one.
| # | Team | Rider | Salary | Team wage bill | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | Tadej Pogačar | €8.2M | €34.0M | Reported |
| 2 | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | Remco Evenepoel | €6.6M | €32.9M | Reported |
| 3 | Visma | Lease a Bike | Jonas Vingegaard | €5M | €30.5M | Reported |
| 4 | Alpecin-Premier Tech | Mathieu van der Poel | €4M | €14.2M | Reported |
| 5 | Lidl-Trek | Juan Ayuso | €3M | €27.2M | Reported |
| 6 | Decathlon CMA CGM | Olav Kooij | €3M | €18.2M | Reported |
| 7 | Netcompany INEOS | Oscar Onley | €2.8M | €24.7M | Model |
| 8 | Soudal Quick-Step | Mikel Landa | €2.5M | €14.2M | Reported |
| 9 | EF Education-EasyPost | Richard Carapaz | €2.3M | €10.4M | Reported |
| 10 | Bahrain Victorious | Lenny Martinez | €2M | €14.2M | Reported |
| 11 | NSN Cycling Team | Biniam Girmay | €2M | €11.6M | Reported |
| 12 | Jayco AlUla | Ben O'Connor | €1.9M | €11.6M | Reported |
| 13 | Lotto Intermarché | Arnaud de Lie | €1.7M | €10.7M | Model |
| 14 | Movistar Team | Enric Mas | €1.5M | €13.7M | Model |
| 15 | Groupama-FDJ United | David Gaudu | €1.4M | €12.0M | Model |
| 16 | XDS Astana | Christian Scaroni | €1.2M | €14.2M | Model |
| 17 | Uno-X Mobility | Tobias Halland Johannessen | €1M | €9.2M | Model |
| 18 | Picnic PostNL | Pavel Bittner | €572k | €6.9M | Model |
Richest cyclists: a salary is not a net worth
Searches for the richest cyclist usually mean net worth, and that is not what this page shows. A salary is what a team pays for one season. A fortune is what is left after tax, after a career of different contracts, and after everything that never appears in a contract at all: personal sponsors, image rights, appearance money, investments.
None of that is public, so this site does not estimate anyone's net worth. What it does document is income: every rider page adds up the base salaries we have for him since 2021, says how many of those seasons are reported figures and how many are model estimates, and shows the prize money he has generated since 2022 — money that goes to the team and is shared, not kept. Tadej Pogačar: net worth and career earnings.
Highest-paid cyclists by season, 2021–2025
The same model run on each season with that year's budgets, rosters and reported salaries. Older seasons are weaker: read the shape, not the decimals. Salaries by season.
2021
- 1Chris FroomeIsrael Start-Up Nation / Premier Tech€5.5M
- 2Peter SaganBORA-hansgrohe€5M
- 3Tadej PogačarUAE Team Emirates€5M
- 4Geraint ThomasINEOS Grenadiers€3.5M
- 5Egan BernalINEOS Grenadiers€2.8M
median €112k · 39 riders over €1M
2022
- 1Tadej PogačarUAE Team Emirates€6M
- 2Chris FroomeIsrael Start-Up Nation / Premier Tech€5.5M
- 3Geraint ThomasINEOS Grenadiers€3.5M
- 4Egan BernalINEOS Grenadiers€2.8M
- 5Michał KwiatkowskiINEOS Grenadiers€2.5M
median €123k · 48 riders over €1M
2023
- 1Tadej PogačarUAE Team Emirates€6M
- 2Filippo GannaINEOS Grenadiers€3.9M
- 3Jonas VingegaardJumbo-Visma€3.8M
- 4Geraint ThomasINEOS Grenadiers€3.5M
- 5Mads PedersenTrek-Segafredo / Lidl-Trek€3.1M
median €162k · 60 riders over €1M
2024
- 1Tadej PogačarUAE Team Emirates€6M
- 2Primož RogličBORA-hansgrohe€4.5M
- 3Jonas VingegaardJumbo-Visma€4M
- 4Mathieu van der PoelAlpecin-Deceuninck€4M
- 5Wout van AertJumbo-Visma€3.5M
median €179k · 65 riders over €1M
2025
- 1Tadej PogačarUAE Team Emirates€8.2M
- 2Remco EvenepoelQuick-Step€5M
- 3Mathieu van der PoelAlpecin-Deceuninck€4.9M
- 4Primož RogličBORA-hansgrohe€4.5M
- 5Jonas VingegaardJumbo-Visma€4.5M
median €220k · 68 riders over €1M
Questions
What is the average pro cyclist salary?
In the men's WorldTour in 2026 the median is €308k a year and the average €589k — the average is higher because the 81 riders above €1M pull it up. In the second division, the ProTeams, the median is €54k. How much do pro cyclists earn?
What does a domestique earn?
Most of the peloton is paid to work for someone else, and that work leaves almost no trace in the results. A squad rider at a WorldTeam is typically priced between €200,000 and €500,000 a year, well below the names on this page. Pay by job
What is the minimum salary in pro cycling?
The 2026 minimum on a men's WorldTeam is €44,150 a year for an employed rider and €72,404 for a self-employed one, set by the agreement between the teams and the riders' association. ProTeam minimums are lower. Minimum wage
Do the highest-paid riders keep their prize money?
No. Prize money is paid to the team and shared with team-mates and staff. Across the WorldTour it is worth about 2.6% of what the same riders earn in salary, so it changes the ranking on this page by nothing at all. Prize money rankings
Salaries are gross base salaries for the 2026 season in euros, before tax. Data snapshot 16 September 2026; contracts follow ProCyclingStats as of 22 September 2026; model v0.9 (22 Sep 2026).