How much does Wout van Aert get paid?
This is a question we get a lot. How much does a top tier World Tour level cyclist like Wout van Aert make? There's a number of factors that play into it. Cyclists salaries aren't public, but through our sources in the industry and a little back of the napkin math you can get a good estimate of how much Wout van Aert, and other similar riders of his calibre, are earning.
As shown in the diagram above - there are a number of avenues where Wout van Aert is generating income from. The largest of course is the salary paid to Wout van Aert by his trade team, in this case Jumbo Visma (soon to be named something else after the merger). It's estimated from those in the industry that his salary is likely around two to three million dollars a year.
This makes sense given that generally the top teams (think UAE, Jumbo Visma, and INEOS) budget is around 50 million per year. The top tier riders from those teams likely take up around 15 to 20 million a year of that budget with the rest going to pay for support staff, the other riders, and all the logistics it takes to run the team.
Bonuses are typically written into riders contracts as well. So Wout van Aert will likely receive bonuses for Grand Tour (think Tour de France) stage wins, or specific spring classic races. These bonuses range depending on the calibre of the race, anywhere from five to fifty thousand, with the upper end being supplied for the like of Grand Tour victories.
Race winnings are also taken home by the rider provided by the race organizers. The winnings also differ by the calibre of the race, with the likes of the small Italian classics providing around five thousand to the winner, whereas winning the green jersey at the Tour de France provides 25k for the winner (of which Wout van Aert won in 2022).
Appearance fees, while not technically legal, are often paid for Wout van Aert, Matthieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock to appear at cyclocross races during the winter. Pidcock will receive around 8k per appearance at certain major cyclocross races, and MVDP and Wout van Aert will pull in around 15k for the same race.
Finally, there's sponsorships, of which Wout van Aert clearly has a deal with Red Bull. It's hard to find a picture of him without his iconic Red Bull helmet. It's hard to know the exact amount Red Bull will be enhancing Wout van Aert's salary by, but some of the sponsorship money will likely be going to Jumbo Visma as well. It's well known that not all trade teams (take Pidcock on INEOS who is also sponsored by Red Bull) want their riders wearing non trade kit.
Jumbo and Red Bull have a good relationship however, and it's likely that Wout van Aert is pulling in some amount of six figures from the sponsorship.
Given all that, and assuming Wout van Aert wins about seven races per year (excluding cyclocross) you get a number around three million euro per year. Not too shabby at all. But remember this is for the upper echelon of cyclists, normal domestiques make no where near as much.
| Type | Earnings |
|---|---|
| Bonuses | 100 000 |
| Winnings | 50 000 |
| Sponsorship | 200 000 |
| Salary | 2 500 000 |
| Appearance Fees | 100 000 |
| Total | 3 000 000 |
For more information of what cyclists typically make - take a gander through our other post on how much UCI cyclists typically earn.
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