Women’s professional cycling has made major strides this year—see events like Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift—but how close is women’s cycling to true equity or equality? The just-released Cyclists’ Alliance Annual Rider Survey shed some light on how women‘s cycling has improved in 2022, but also where there’s still work to be done.
The survey has been conducted for the last five years, and this year, 124 professional riders responded. Of those, all but three riders compete on the road, with 44 percent belonging to Women’s World Tour level teams. Many dabble in track or cyclocross, and more than half have been racing for four or more years. More than half of the respondents were American, but plenty of European racers weighed in as well.
While the survey found Women’s World Tour conditions have improved—again, see events like Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift bringing women’s cycling to a broader audience and making it nearly impossible for sponsors to not get behind better support for their women’s teams—on the lower racing tiers (Continental Riders), there’s still a lot of work to be done to bring about gender parity in cycling.
More From Bicycling
Survey questions include sharing information around employment and income, team support and culture, and professional support. Let’s dig into some of the statistics and results shared by the The Cyclists’ Alliance (TCA):
A larger pay gap despite raises in minimums
We cheered when women’s cycling added a mandatory minimum salary for Women’s World Tour teams, but there’s still a vast—and growing—discrepancy between salaries for men and women cyclists.
The good news: There are now 14 Women’s World Tour (WWT) teams, up from nine in 2021, so more riders actually are making the minimum salary of 27,500 Euro for salaried riders or 45,100 Euro for self-employed—and many report making more than the minimum requirement. (A quick note: At the time of writing, the Euro is roughly equivalent to the U.S. dollar, for clarity.)
According to TCA, 13 percent of WWT riders stated they earned over 100,000 Euros yearly, while another 24 percent report earning between 60,000 and 100,000 Euros per year. That’s a 17 percent increase from the 2021 survey stats.
Riders are also getting longer employment contracts on average, which is ideal since it allows racers to feel more confident in their ability to grow with a team, rather than needing to perform in one season. And more riders—30 percent of those surveyed—have agents, which hopefully will improve professional negotiations with sponsors and teams, resulting in higher salaries.
The bad news: Only 54 percent of riders surveyed can survive on what they’re making through cycling. Others rely on scholarships, second jobs, or a family/partner who can supplement their income. Go outside of the WWT circuit and only 15 percent of riders make more than $20,000 annually. Even more distressing, 23 percent of non-WWT pro racers make nothing. (This, sadly, is an improvement over last year, where 34 percent made nothing.)
Less than half the riders have health insurance, and many teams provide minimal or no support for things like concussion testing. Two percent have a pension plan.
As TCA says bluntly, “There were athletes racing this year’s Tour De France Femmes who received no salary from their team racing against riders earning a triple figure salary.” That may explain why a whopping 41 percent of riders would exit cycling early in order to make more money elsewhere.
A boost in team support
While those numbers are a bit grim, happiness is on the rise in the women’s peloton. The TCA found that 73 percent of riders surveyed reported being Very Happy or Happy, which marks an impressive 30 percent increase since 2021.
Part of the boost in happiness may simply be the return to racing and teams being back together, but riders cited reasons like an increase in the professionalism of teams through rider-focused initiatives like training camps (including the addition of altitude training), media training, race analysis and tactical skill development, specialist staff hires such as nutritionists and mental performance coaches.
Unfortunately, 11 percent of riders cited poor team management and uncomfortable situations, ranking themselves as ‘unhappy’ or ‘very unhappy.’
The way forward
It’s been said for years now, but it bears repeating: Improving coverage of women’s cycling, particularly for a TV audience, is the way to move the sport forward. More than half of the women surveyed listed that as the key way to progress: More eyeballs means more sponsor interest, which translates to dollars. TCA cites the Tour de France Femmes as an example of the interest that women’s cycling can generate, noting that 20 million people in France alone tuned in to watch the race. 5.1 million viewers tuned in for the race finish. Imagine the potential if more women’s racing was broadcast?
Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training, with an emphasis on women in sport. Her new middle-grade series, Shred Girls, debuts with Rodale Kids/Random House in 2019 with "Lindsay's Joyride." Her other books include "Mud, Snow and Cyclocross," "Saddle, Sore" and "Fuel Your Ride." Her work has been published in magazines like Bicycling, Outside and Nylon. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast.
