Financial documents for the three largest race organizers in pro cycling show that absent massive growth, sharing the proceeds from media rights and other revenue streams would not meaningfully change pro teams’ financial situation.
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Talk of economic and structural reform has been a common theme in cycling in recent years, with proponents of the now-canned One Cycling and most recently-launched venture regularly claiming that the sport is a sleeping giant that can grow significantly with the right business plan. Even the International Cycling Union (UCI) is now getting in on the act, inviting ideas earlier this month on how the sport could be restructured.
But how much money is already in the sport? And if broadcast rights and profits were to be more evenly distributed among stakeholders, including teams, would it make that much of a difference to each respective party’s financial health?
Inside the budgets of the richest and poorest WorldTour teams
Top men’s pro teams have become far richer the past few years, but a widening gap to the rest could be trouble for the sport.
Escape Collective has obtained official figures from the UCI, presented at the WorldTour seminar in December, that illustrate how much team budgets are increasing year-on-year. For the 2025 season, the combined budgets of all 18 men’s WorldTour teams was €570 million, up from €499 million a year before. That’s an average annual budget of over €31 million per team.
The growth has continued for this season. While the UCI figures for 2026 are listed at €673 million, they include two ProTeams – Cofidis and Pinarello-Q36.5 – that applied for but were not awarded WorldTour status. Even discounting them, however, the total budget across the WorldTour is likely around €620–€630 million, meaning that in just two years, the average cost of fronting a WorldTour team has risen 25%.
Additionally, Escape Collective has been through the financial accounts of the three biggest race organisers – Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), RCS and Flanders Classics – to figure out how profitable elite level bike races are.
Significant profits, but one big rainmaker
The family-owned ASO is the biggest race organiser in cycling, and often referred to as the de facto governors of the sport. On their lengthy roll call of races are the men’s and women’s Tours de France, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Paris-Nice, as well as the Vuelta a España and several other WorldTour events. But ASO doesn’t only promote bike races: it also owns and runs the Paris Marathon and the Dakar Rally off-road motorsports race. ASO itself is a subsidiary of the larger Editions Philippe Amaury, aka Groupe Amaury, which owns the l’Equipe family of media titles as well as France Football and the French Vélo magazine (which is not affiliated with the American one by the same name).
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