Tour de France 2021
I followed the tour primarily indirectly through podcasts from De Tribune and The Move, a bit of Villa Sporza and Vive Le Velo on Belgian TV, and via Twitter. I did end up watching another win by Wout Van Aert on the cobblestones of the Champs Elysees. Wow!
If I had to summarize this tour in a few sentences, it is that:
- Tadej is the boss. A young playful boss, but one in command and one we’ll see for many years. What a strong rider.
- Cav was the dream. The happy ending of a Hollywood movie. The hope for any older sportsman. A publicity gift from the gods for team DeCeunick-Quickstep.
- Wout is the star. Mont Ventoux, Time Trail and a sprint on the Champs Elysess. A better all-rounder doesn’t exist in the peloton right now.
- Matthieu was the shooting star. He came, dazzled, and went before it was over.
- Lots of kids in Slovenia will start racing their bikes. We will see another generation in about 10 years.
As I listened to the final Vive le Velo, I was flabbergasted about how little money these top sporters make. The prize money is a disgrace. Tadej receives a check of $500KEuros, which he has to split with his team. The estimation is about $30KEuros per rider for the winning team. However, most riders in other teams who made it to Paris only take home an extra $1500 Euros.
By comparison, the winner of Roland Garros receives $1.4M, not to be split. And the losers in the first round of the tournament still get $60KEuros. Roland Garros brings in about the same amount of revenue as the Tour.
This ain’t right.
Prize money at the 2021 Tour de France #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/iMmlyboQx7
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) July 18, 2021