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Assuming one makes it onto a pro team that's been selected, I was wondering how much it costs per rider to race in the Tour?

I'm interested in the set cost for each rider to race, if there is one, and also how much (approximately) it actually costs the team to put the rider through, taking into consideration all the ancillary costs like bikes, mechanics, team busses and cars, food, lodging, etc.

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    Teams usually get paid to ride in a race, more or less depending on the race. The ancillary cost to put a rider through the race would be very difficult to calculate as they are typically riding other races as they are preparing.
    – Drew Smith
    Jul 20, 2016 at 19:30
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    You'd better off asking for the team price. Individuals are not allowed to race in the Tour de France. You must have a team. It should also be noted that teams vary in cost by salary and equipment.
    – Deleted User
    Jul 20, 2016 at 20:03
  • An interesting question, though one that will be difficult to pin down. It gets weirdly difficult to nail down, since much of the "hard goods" (ie, bikes, vehicles, etc) come from sponsors, so the team may not be paying for them. You'd also have to take into account the rider's salary, which can vary widely depending on who you are.
    – Ealhmund
    Jul 20, 2016 at 20:13
  • I think its a good question, but far too big to answer concisely. There's no chance you could enter the tour on your own as it stand, if that's the underlying question. However, stump up the cash and you could buy the tour and change the rules to suit yourself. From wikipedia "In 1993 ownership of L'Équipe moved to the Amaury Group, which formed Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) to oversee its sports operations, although the Tour itself is operated by its subsidiary the Société du Tour de France. "
    – Criggie ♦
    Jul 20, 2016 at 22:38
  • @Criggie that's interesting, I didn't know about "buying" of the tour. Entering the tour on one's own was also not the question, to clarify. The assumption is that you are on a pro team. Then the question that follows is how much is it to put someone who is on the team through the tour.
    – ebrohman
    Jul 21, 2016 at 18:31

2 Answers 2

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It's hard to come up with an exact number, but you could likely get a team in for $10 million dollars or slightly less. The figures I have seen for "average" budgets are usually around $20 million. Most estimates place over 50% of the budget in salaries, with larger name riders making more. A Tour de France team is 9 riders, however, pro teams generally consist of more riders and the best 9 (currently available) are chosen for the race if the team is invited. However, a UCI pro tour team needs to have a minimum of 25 riders and a max of 30.

Officially there is no "cost" ,per se, for racing in the Tour de France. Teams are invited. However, the costs are associated with getting a UCI licensed pro cycling team, which must have a full time staff and meet minimum requirements. Theoretically a person with near magic insight could assemble a team of unknown riders and staff for around the $10 million minimum. However, it's likely that if the team did well enough to actually be competitive, riders and staff would be snapped up by teams with larger budgets the next year, likely gutting the team.

For a minimum 25 rider team, you are probably looking at ~$2.5 million for minimum rider salaries and salaries for a staff plus UCI fees (severely lowballed). That's roughly $100K per rider and wouldn't cover travel costs, facilities or anything else. ~$10 million sounds closer to covering all those things. Or roughly $400k per rider for your 25 rider squad, only 9 of which you will send to the Tour de France. As asked, the question is difficult to answer, because although you may need roughly ~$400k per rider for your Tour team, you have to have an additional 16 riders on staff to be considered for invitation (all at the same minimum cost).

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  • Thanks for this answer it's helpful; in response to your comment above - knowing full well that one needs to be on a team to race, as stated in the question, can you add some info on how many riders are on a team (on average) so we can do the math to answer the per rider question? Also, can you cite any sources for the figures?
    – ebrohman
    Jul 21, 2016 at 18:36
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ASO used to charge around $30,000 per team in years past. Not sure if things have changed.

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    Hi, welcome to bicycles. Two things: it would be better if you could cite a source for that number, and this is just part of the overall cost the question is looking for, which includes accommodation, coaches and staff, etc.
    – DavidW
    Nov 21, 2021 at 21:53
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    Also, can you clarify if that’s US$30k? And which approximate years?
    – Weiwen Ng
    Nov 21, 2021 at 22:02
  • Welcome to the site - could you please use edit to expand your answer? One line of assertion, with no sources isn't well-supported. Look at the other answers for an example of how much depth and detail is required. Also, define ASO, what currency, and which year this would have been.
    – Criggie ♦
    Nov 22, 2021 at 4:17

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