34% of professional riders receive no salary, says Cyclists’ Alliance 2021 Rider Survey
The Cyclists’ Alliance has announced the release of its 2021 Rider Survey. Each year, the survey aims to highlight current issues within professional women’s cycling.
The survey was spit into three parts, containing several questions. The three parts were; Working Conditions, Legal & Ethics, Team Culture.
The release details the part one findings on working conditions in particular. With regards to salaries, the survey found that 86% of riders surveyed this year think that salaries for women’s professional cycling are too low for the level of commitment. The number of professional riders with “no salary” has increased from 17% in 2018 to 34% in 2021.
It also highlighted that due to the lack of minimum salary for Women’s Continental Road teams, the wage disparity gap between WWT riders and Continental riders is continuing to grow. Furthermore, the survey found that the main topic that riders requested the TCA to advocate for was to ensure all riders earn a minimum salary.
The release also detailed the impact the pandemic has had on the 2021 season. The survey found that in comparison to the 2020 season, riders have felt less impacted by the pandemic overall. However, it is said that riders on Continental teams are being negatively impacted more that riders on World Tour Teams.
Additionally, during the 2020 season, 29% of riders experienced a salary reduction or a loss of salary entirely due to the pandemic, whereas in 2021 only 5% of riders on World Tour teams had their salary reduced and only 1% of riders on Continental teams lost their salary entirely.
Furthermore, 76% of riders were concerned that the pandemic would make it harder to secure a contract in 2021. Of the riders surveyed, 7% of riders on UCI Women’s Continental road teams were unable to secure a contract with a team for 2021 and claimed that the pandemic was mainly responsible.
