The total budget for the men's WorldTour has increased by 33% between 2022 and 2025, rising from €430 million to €570 million, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
In the same period, the total budget of the Women's WorldTour has doubled to €70 million.
The €71 million increase from 2024 to next season in the men's WorldTour is the biggest jump since 2021, with steady rises from €379 million, spread across the then 19 teams instead of 18, to €430 million in 2022, then up to €473 million in 2023 and finally to €499 million last year.
In the UCI's ProSeries, where teams such as Tudor and Israel Premier-Tech operate, the total budget has grown from €99 million in 2022 to €149 million for the coming season, following a similar trend as WorldTour teams.
The Gazzetta dello Sport report comes following the annual UCI WorldTour Seminar held on November 25-26 in Nice. The Italian sports newspaper and lead cycling reporter Ciro Scognamiglio were able to view the not-publicly-available figures exclusively.
The increase in some teams' budgets has sparked a need for some kind of budget cap in professional cycling. The UCI has confirmed that the 'principles of financial fairness for teams' are being considered iva a working group.
A €570 million total budget also means the WorldTour average budget among the men's teams has increased to €32 million, €4 million more than it was the year prior.
87% of the new high WorldTour total is understood to be from sponsors after the 2023 and 2024 seasons saw big major investments from Lidl with Trek, Decathlon with AG2R and most recently Red Bull with Bora-Hansgrohe into the men's WorldTour.
In the latter's case, it has placed Primož Roglič's team among the highest budget teams in the WorldTour with Gazzetta reporting a €50 million budget for 2025, alongside the likes of UAE Team Emirates, where the best rider in the world and the highest-paid, Tadej Pogačar, currently rides. After his contract extension in October, the world champion is reportedly on a salary of €8 million.
Further investment from Chinese carbon product manufacturer XDS Carbon-Tech into Astana Qazaqstan has seen that sponsorship trend continue into 2025, with their new budget allowing them to sign 12 riders ahead of the coming season.
While Gazzetta reported that the gap in salary between Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel and Pogačar compared to the rest of the peloton is increasing, the average salary among men's WorldTour pros has increased.
The average was reported at €449,000 in 2024, however, it is set to be at a new high of €500,000 in 2025.
There was no update of the average salary among Women's WorldTour professionals but it was last reported to be around €85,000 in 2024.
However, with the new transfer of Demi Vollering to FDJ-Suez and the rapid growth in the women's side of the sport, that could well have increased heavily as the men's average.
