Tadej Pogacar overtakes Sagan as the highest paid cyclist in the world

It is no secret that road cycling at its highest level moves exorbitant amounts of money. The highest paid professional cyclists in 2021 - 2022 earn millionaire salaries, in line with their category and the profits made by the teams that are lucky enough to have them in their ranks.

Top 20 highest paid cyclists in 2021 -2022

How much does a professional cyclist earn? The concrete figures for cyclists' salaries in 2021-2022 are difficult to know and some data is completely unknown. Rarely do cyclists or teams make official announcements regarding contract details, but through leaks and undisclosed information we have been able to compile this ranking.

10 Vincenzo Nibali  2,1M

Until 2019 Vincenzo Nibali appeared as the third best paid cyclist in the international peloton with almost 4 million euros but in his change to Trek Segafredo and the "modest" results of recent years could have reduced his salary to 2.1 million, and it could be even less with his move to Astana for 2022. Nibali is one of the few chosen ones who, in the whole history of cycling, has managed to win in the Three Grand Tours. The Shark showed in a Giro d'Italia 2016 to remember that the cyclist who swept the French roads in 2014 is still very much alive.

 

9. Alejandro Valverde / Richard Carapaz y Wout van Aert 2,2 millones 

At the age of 40, the Movistar Team rider from Murcia has announced that 2022 will be his last year as a professional cyclist, but until then he is still one of the best valued riders. Alejandro Valverde's salary is 2.2 million euros.

Sharing position and salary we found the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz. In 2019 Carapaz won the Giro d'Italia to the surprise of many and after that he signed with Team Ineos, which earned him a direct place in the Top 10 of the best paid cyclists with a salary of 2.2 million euros.

Belgian rider Wout van Aert of Jumbo Visma is one of the prodigy cyclists able to combine several modalities in the same season, and with his performances in the CX World Championship and being one of the best classics riders in the peloton, he would also be in the 2.2M euro club.

7. Julian Alaphilippe 2,3 M

The current World Champion is French, his name is Julian Alaphilippe and he has been part of the current Deceuninck-QuickStep team since 2013. His salary in 2021 is 2.3 million euros, but after winning the World Championships in 2020 and 2021, we wouldn't be surprised if it increases in the coming months.

6. Michal Kwiatkowski 2,5 M

The Polish Kwiatkowski made his debut as a professional cyclist in 2010 in the Spanish team Caja Rural and in 2014 he became the first Polish cyclist to become World Champion. Now he is a member of Team Ineos and his salary is 2.5 million euros.

5. Egan Bernal 2,8 M 

Young Colombian Egan Bernal became, at the age of 23, the first American, non-US, to win the Tour de France. Since 2017 he has had a contract with Team INEOS, he signed it for 5 years and his current salary is estimated at 2.8 million euros.

 4. Geraint Thomas  3,5 M

For many this British cyclist was one of the great surprises of 2018 but there is no doubt that he was a fair winner of the Tour de France. Geraint Thomas proved that he can be a good leader of the Sky team and that justifies the 3.5 million euros he earns annually.

3.Christopher Froome's salary

The third is none other than Christopher Froome, the three-time winner of the Tour de France. In 2019 he suffered a serious accident from which it is not yet known how he will recover but he is expected to go for his fourth Tour. At the moment he is pocketing a chilling figure close to €5 million on his new team in Israel, it is being rumoured that it could be €5.5 million.

 2.How much does Peter Sagan earn?

Although he has had a couple of seasons with very modest results and has just signed his transfer to the continental team Total Energies, the Slovakian is still one of the most valued cyclists by fans and brands. He leads the ranking of cyclists with more followers on social networks and his salary is between 5 and 5.5 million euros per year. A large part of which is paid by Specialized.

1.Tadej Pogacar leads the ranking with 6 million euros

This elite podium is led by a very young 23-year-old Slovenian rider, Tadej Pogacar. After winning his first Tour de France in 2020 he signed a contract with the UAE team until 2026, but only 5 months later, after winning the second Tour in 2021, he renewed his contract until 2027 and his salary has increased to 6 M€ per year. His salary has gone up quite a lot from the €41,000 he was earning in 2019.

Top 20 highest paid cyclists

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 6 M
2. Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) 5,5 M
3. Peter Sagan (Total Energies) 5,5 M
4. Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) 3,5 M
5. Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) 2,8 M
6. Micha? Kwiatkowski (Team Ineos) 2,5 M
7. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 2,3 M
8. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) 2,2 M
9. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) 2,2 M
10. Richard Carapaz (Team Ineos) 2,2 M
11. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) 2,1 M
12. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) 2 M
13. Adam Yates (Team Ineos) 2 M
14. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 2 M
15. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) 2 M
16. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) 2M
17. Romain Bardet (DSM) 2 M
18. Elia Viviani (Cofidis) 1,9 M
19. Nairo Quintana (Arkea) 1,9 M
20. Fernando Gaviria (UAE) 1,8 M