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The women’s top-tier minimum salary will equal that of the men’s WorldTour teams, currently set at just above €38,000, Cyclingnews reports.
UCI President David Lappartient confirmed the news in an exclusive podcast interview with Cyclingnews while he was attending the 2018 UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck.
The UCI previously announced a series of reforms that aim to further professionalise women’s road racing by introducing a two-tiered system, WorldTeams and Continental Teams, and a minimum wage for the top-tier in 2020.
In the interview, Lappartient said: "This is a very big step for women’s cycling.
"We will have the same minimum salary for the Women’s WorldTeams as the men’s WorldTour teams, we want that to be equal, and we think that this is a big step forward.
"I was a little bit afraid when I saw the survey that we have about women’s cycling, that in fact, two-thirds of women racing earn less than €10,000 per year.
“That is not acceptable for us at the governing body.
"When we spoke with the stakeholders; teams, organisers, riders, national federations and the UCI on the reforms, we wanted to figure out how it was possible to ensure the stability of the riders who work, and they need to be paid for what they are doing.
"That’s why we want to promote the best teams at the WorldTour level, and to be able to reach this level, they will need to have a minimum salary. The minimum salary will be the same minimum salary as the men’s WorldTour."
However, Colin Lynch tweeted: "The minimum is going to be set at around 30k to match Pro-Conti minimum salary levels. With an aim to ‘one day’ have it match World Tour level."
