Tour de France Winner:$534K. Mr Olympia Winner:$600K. Why? How?

Top finishers at the TdF used to traditionally share the winnings with teammates. I’m not sure if that is still the case but that’s how it was.

Those top GC riders at the tour are making substantially more over the course of year so they’re more than likely unconcerned about this pay “disparity.”

Top TDF riders make their money from their teams and sponsors. The prize money is just icing on the cake. Kind of like the super bowl bonus money in the NFL. I think the top tour riders have salaries in the $4-5 mil range.

Body building is a bit more like golf in that their income is mostly coming from prize money. So, the body builders are actually making significantly less than the tour riders if you add it all up.

Have you ever been to GNC? Those supplements aren’t cheap and people use them religiously.

There are far, far more cyclists in the Tour De France than there are bodybuilders at Mr. Olympia. Plus, since it's a multi week stage event, separate payouts are made for wins and the top 20 riders in individual stages, while at Mr Olympia there is just one single competition for each division. And TDF also makes a small payout (€1000) to every single rider who finishes the Tour.

So the TDF pool has to spread out more money to pay more winners.

OP wrote:

Because people like buff, strong, powerful dudes not scrawny, weak supposed "men."

Snoop Dogg $32 Million for Paris 2024. He worked only 3 weeks for that!

Hey there, I was explaining why the TDF money is lower for the winner than Olympia. That seems to fall in line with my point. Is there a problem?

Do Mr. Olympia winners share their winnings with their pharmacists?

Hmm, to put a finer point on it, forget 600K, some of the golf majors are well over a million for a win now and there are many of them. And they already have great sponsor money.

I dont know, is the NFl a good comparison though for TDF? Does Tadej, Wout etc...make 50 mil a year salary? if so then yea the TDF payout seems ok.

The bodybuilders are spending huge amounts on steroids, growth hormone etc. and need the funds to pay off their debt and then a few years down the road they have to pay for kidney dialysis and cardiac care also. It's an expensive hobby.