Demi Vollering can handle disappointment. The Dutch rider lost last year's Tour de France Femmes to Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney by just four seconds — never before has the Tour de France been decided by such a close margin. But the 2023 Tour winner is troubled by a bigger issue, namely that of inequality.

Women's cycling beset by prize-money gap

In general, female professional cyclists earn far less than their male counterparts.

At the spring classic Milan-Sanremo, Vollering said the fact that the prize money was "only 11% of that for the men" represented "a huge difference, and that's very disappointing. There's still a lot to do."

This difference also exists at the Tour de France. The male winner receives €500,000 ($586,000) in prize money, while the female winner receives only €50,000. When asked about this, the director of the Tour de France Femmes reacted defensively.

"The question of prize money has been with me since the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes, and to be honest, it's a bit annoying," Marion Rousse told DW.

"It's difficult to compare a race with 21 days of racing and one with nine days," she argued, pointing to the additional revenue from sponsorship and TV money generated by longer stage races.

"If you compare the Tour de France Femmes with men's races of a similar length, it looks different: Compared to Paris-Nice or the Criterium du Dauphine, the prize money for the women's Tour is higher than for the men's."

This is indeed true; the winners of the Paris-Nice and the Criterium du Dauphine receive €16,000.

Huge gap between top earners

The inequality is particularly evident in salaries, as male cyclists can earn significantly more than female cyclists. According to information from the website Cyclingnews, there is a significant gap between women and men among the top earners alone.

The three highest-earning men in cycling are Tadej Pogacar (€8.2 million), Remco Evenepoel (€5 million) and Mathieu van der Poel (€5 million). In women's cycling, the top three are Demi Vollering (just over €900,000), Lotte Kopecky (€900,000) and Elisa Longo-Borghini (just over €800,000). However, the salaries of the top female riders have apparently increased significantly recently. 

The Tour de France Femmes has also become longer — spanning nine days instead of eight for the first time. This is still fewer than half the 21 stages of the men's Tour, a point of criticism for many.

Rousse, however, sees the one-day extension as "a strong message to women's cycling."

"Our race is still very young; it's only its fourth edition. But you can already see the development; the Tour is getting harder," Rousse said.

Media presence has always been an important financial factor, and TV and streaming create an advertising environment. Higher ratings and social media reach generate revenue and make the event attractive to other sponsors.

While the women's and men's Tours are both broadcast in 190 countries, a closer look reveals significant differences. French television shows around 20 hours of the Tour de France Femmes live on television, but a good 100 hours of the men's race. This is not only due to the race being longer, but also to the fact that the Tour de France is broadcast in its entirety, while the broadcast of the Tour de France Femmes is not.

'On the right track'

But the Tour de France Femmes is catching up in terms of ratings. While the men's Tour de France reaches peak audiences of 6.3 million in the host country, the women's race reached 3.5 million viewers for the dramatic finale in 2024 up to Alpe d'Huez. Interest from host cities and towns along the route is also increasing significantly.

"We now receive applications in 90% of cases from cities that apply for both races in the same letter: the men's and the women's Tour," Rousse said. "This is a change that is taking place; we are truly on the right track."

Another important step for the development of women's cycling was the introduction of minimum wage. Female cyclists in the top league (World Tour) must receive at least €38,000 per year, while new professionals receive just under €32,000. Here, the gap to men is smaller, with the minimum wage there being €42,000 and €34,000 for new professionals.

'We have to keep fighting'

For Rousse, it's all a matter of perspective. When she retired from professional cycling a decade ago, she earned nothing from the sport; it was purely amateur.

"Back then, we changed behind the trucks; we didn't have a bus for that. We didn't sleep in hotels, but in schools, barracks or even a fire station," she recalled.

Thanks in part to the Tour de France Femmes, women's cycling is "light years away from the sport I once did." Nevertheless, one thing is clear to her. "We have to keep fighting. It will take a few more years to develop women's cycling financially. But we will do it."

This article was originally written in German.

Edited by: Jonathan Harding