Marianne Vos and Mathieu van der Poel Were the Top Earners of the Spring Classics

As we bid adieu to the Spring Classics, let’s take a look at the sport’s top earners. This period of racing includes all the WorldTour one-day races from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in late February to last week’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. At the top of the list for the women is Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), who earned €38,173 ($41,990 USD). For the men, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took home €84,500 ($92,950 USD).

Close behind Vos and Van der Poel in earnings were Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) with €35,081 ($38,589 USD), and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with €60,400 ($66,440 USD).

The third top earner for the women was Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek). The Italian won the Tour of Flanders and rode consistently all season. She had a payout of €31,892 ($35,081 USD) in total. She was followed by Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), who earned €27,970 ($30,767 USD).

On the men’s side, Van der Poel and Philipsen were followed by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who earned €41,000 ($45,100 USD), and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who earned €34,400 ($37,840 USD).

GCN reported that the prize money riders win is usually shared among teammates and members of staff. “With that in mind, one glance at the results shows that Alpecin-Deceuninck will be one happy team, with Van der Poel and Philipsen at the top of the prize money standings, collectively earning €144,900 for the team.”

And if it seems like there’s a frustratingly huge difference between what the top men make and what the top women make, there is. According to GCN, “The top 20 men earned €417,750 in prize money in the Classics. The top 20 women earned €253,076 across the same period—that’s before considering the difference in base salaries.”

But progress is (slowly) being made. Two years ago, Flanders Classics announced that they would award equal prize money to men and women at the Tour of Flanders. Then, a year later, they extended the deal to all races under their umbrella. This means that equal prize money was awarded to Vos and Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike) at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The same was true for both Wiebes and Pedersen at Ghent-Wevelgem, as well as Longo Borghini and Van der Poel at the Tour of Flanders.

Unfortunately, other organizers have yet to follow suit. According to GCN, “The biggest disparity was at Strade Bianche, where Lotte Kopecky’s winning ride earned her a measly €2,256 relative to Pogačar’s €16,000. It was a similar tale at Paris-Roubaix, where Kopecky was awarded €9,000 less than Van der Poel, and at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ) won €12,500 to Pogačar’s €20,000.”