Riders yet to receive prize money for 2014 French races

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De Telegraaf reported today that the French Cycling Federation has yet to pay out prize money for the country's 2014 races, including the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix. Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), for example, is still waiting to receive the nearly €540,000 he is owed for winning the French Grand Tour.

The FCC has placed more than €2 million in a bank account rather than distributing it to teams and riders, saying it is waiting for results from drug tests to ensure that no doped riders receive prize money. The FCC said it will payout prize money once a year.

The ASO, organisers of the Tour de France and other prestigious French races like Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Nice, told de Telegraaf that it has long since fulfilled its financial obligations by providing the money to the federation.

"The responsibility stops there with us," an ASO spokesman told de Telegraaf. "Then it is up to the French Cycling Federation."