The Tour de France Femmes is set to become the richest race in the women's peloton next year, with a total of €250,000 up for grabs over the course of the eight-day race and €50,000 in prize money for the winner.
Details of the prize money for the race, which has been much anticipated since Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme confirmed its go-ahead back in May, were revealed on Thursday morning along with the route for both the women's and men's races.
Full details of the prize money package on offer have yet to be revealed but the winner of the race will take home €50,000 while a further €200,000 will be awarded to stage winners, jersey holders and winners, other top general classification finishers, and more.
That total tops the previous largest prize fund in women's peloton at the RideLondon Classique, which was last held in 2019 with a €100,000 prize pot on offer including €25,000 for the winner Lorena Wiebes.
While the RideLondon events – including the now-defunct men's RideLondon Classic – moved towards pay parity, that's still a long way off for the men's and women's Tour de France. Next year, the men's race will see a similar prize fund as the 2021 race, with €2.3million up for grabs including €500,000 for the winner.
The topic of prize money in the women's peloton has been in the news recently following the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes, also organised by ASO and won by Trek-Segafredo's Lizzie Deignan.
The winner of the women's race took home just €1,535 in contract to the men's winner, who received €30,000, while the total prize funds came to €7,005 and €90,000 respectively.
After the race, Trek-Segafredo confirmed that they would match the prize money for Deignan and third-place finisher Elisa Longo Borghini with the men's equivalent, adding that it was the continuation of a policy they had been carrying out throughout 2021.
