Thanks to her overall victory in the Tour de France Femmes, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot took home €50,000. However, that is significantly less than the €500,000 awarded to the men's Tour winner, Tadej Pogačar. No problem, according to Tour director Marion Rousse.
Looking at the total prize pot, the women's Tour totals €264,520, compared to €2.3 million for the men's race. “We are comparing the men's Tour de France, which lasts three weeks, with the Tour de France Femmes, which is nine days. Naturally, you have to compare like with like. When you compare the prize pots, the Tour de France Femmes' is even larger than that of the Critérium du Dauphiné — for the same number of race days,” Rousse told Het Nieuwsblad.
“We should not want to grow too quickly. First and foremost, we need to consolidate the race, because if the Tour stops next year, that would be a disaster for women's cycling, which has been developing strongly year after year.”
Rousse also takes a broader view of the women's Tour. “We have to realize that women's cycling was virtually non-existent just four years ago,” the Frenchwoman said.
At the team level, Visma | Lease a Bike made the best haul. Besides the money for Ferrand-Prévot's overall win, they collected around €26,000 more, while FDJ-SUEZ had to make do with almost €54,000. Winspace Orange Seal fared the worst, with barely €290.
