Demi Vollering and FDJ the top earners as one team leaves penniless – Tour de France Femmes prize money wrapped

The total prize money pot from the 2026 Tour de France Femmes has been totted up and dished out, with Demi Vollering and her FDJ United-SUEZ team unsurprisingly the top earners, while one team remarkably went home penniless.

FDJ topped the teams’ prize money earnings, taking home €77, 080, with the podium reflecting that of the individual general classification – Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney’s Canyon-SRAM team netting €51,500 and Elisa Longo Borghini’s UAE Team l’IMADE pocketing €37,980.

There was a big gulf to the team in fourth, SD Worx-Protime – once the dominant force in women’s cycling – who collected €18,940. Lidl-Trek rounded out the top five of team earners on €14,880.

Remarkably, there was one team who left the race without a single extra Euro in the bank: Mayenne-Monbana-MyPie. The French second-division team were also bottom of the pile on their Tour debut last year, but at least pocketed €290.

This time, they were empty-handed given they did not place a rider inside the top 20 on any of the nine stages, or in the overall classification. Furthermore, they weren’t among the cash-scoring first few riders at any intermediate sprint or mountain crest, failing to have an impact in any of the classifications, including the daily combativity prize.

This is not actually the first time a team has left the Tour de France with no prize money; in 2024, the Tashkent team suffered the same fate. There had been controversy surrounding the Uzbek team’s inclusion in the race, which intensified when four of their riders abandoned on the first day, and they rode the final four stages with just one rider.

Mayenne-Monbana-MyPie lost Kaira Lylyk ahead of stage 7 and Alice Coutinho ahead of the final stage, but finished with five riders.

Vollering the runaway individual earner

Of FDJ United-SUEZ’s table-topping total, the overwhelming majority of cash was hauled in by Vollering herself.

In fact, Vollering’s personal prize haul of €69,000 would put her ahead of all the other teams as collective entities.

In second place on the personal earnings was runner-up- Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney €37,120, while third-placed Elisa Longo Borghini earned €14,310.

Vollering took home €50,000 for her overall victory, but her huge total was indicative of the impact she had throughout the race.

The Dutchwoman collected €4,000 on each of the three occasions she won a stage, and she bulked that out to the tune of €4,000 with three further podium finishes on stages. What’s more, she also finished runner-up in the final classifications for the points and the mountains, adding €1,500 in each instance.

Vollering also earned €500 for being elected the most combative rider on stage 5, and she earned a further €400 from high placings on categorised climbs to take her total to €69,900.

How does this compare to the men?

When looking at the Tour de France Femmes prize money, it’s always interesting, in the context of women’s cycling’s continued evolution, to see how it stacks up against the men’s Tour.

The difference is still stark. This year, Tadej Pogačar took home €500,000 for winning the Tour, and plenty more for his five stages wins, giving his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad a whopping total prize money haul of €832,750.

That figure is tempered by the huge gulf to second-placed Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe on €288,160.

However, there is still a big difference between the €2.5 million total prize pot for the men’s Tour, and the €260,000 total for the women’s Tour.

There are several contributing factors, cited by among others the Tour de France Femmes race director Marion Rousse.

The men’s Tour is a far bigger commercial beast, with huge revenues from broadcasting and sponsorship, and part of that is down to its scale. The men’s Tour has over 100 years of history behind it, while the women’s Tour in its current incarnation is only five editions old, and whereas the women’s Tour has grown to nine stages, that’s still less than half of the 21 stages of the men’s race.

Rousse has consistently resisted unfavorable comparisons with the men’s Tour, pointing out that the prize pot is still significantly higher than the most prestigious week-long races on the men’s calendar, and underlining the fact that women’s cycling is still growing from a very low economic foundation.

“We must not grow too quickly, and above all, we must ensure the race's longevity because if the event stops next year, it would be a catastrophe for women's cycling, which is evolving very quickly from year to year,” Rousse said in 2025.

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