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The Tour de France is arguably one of the most grueling professional sports events. Riders must overcome harsh weather conditions to complete a challenging course of over 3000 kilometers in 3 weeks. As the highest-level competition in professional cycling, the Tour de France also offers the highest prize money among similar events. In 2017, the organizers provided a prize pool of 2,280,950 euros (approximately 17,829,045 RMB) to be awarded to riders who achieved various honors in the race.

The highest prize in the Tour de France is, of course, the General Classification (shortest total time, yellow jersey) award. In 2017, the champion Chris Froome, who ranked first in the General Classification, received a prize of 500,000 euros. The second-place Rigoberto Urán and third-place Romain Bardet received 200,000 euros and 100,000 euros respectively. The prize amounts decrease progressively with the rankings, with riders ranked 20th to 160th receiving only 1,000 euros, averaging just 0.28 euros per kilometer.

According to the long-standing tradition of the Tour de France, in addition to the General Classification award, there are also awards for the Sprint King, King of the Mountains, Best Young Rider (ranked by total time for riders under 26), and Best Team after all stages are completed. However, the prize money for these awards is much less than the General Classification award, with the first-place prize ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 euros, and the number of recipients being far fewer.

This year's Tour de France had 21 stages, and the top 20 riders with the shortest times in each stage received corresponding stage prizes. The stage winner received 11,000 euros, the second and third places received 5,500 euros and 2,800 euros respectively, with the amounts decreasing progressively.

It can be seen that although the Tour de France is a top-tier professional sports event, its prize money is 'pitifully small' compared to other popular sports. For example, in the 2016-2017 Premier League season, the champion team Chelsea received a ranking prize of 38,832,180 pounds (excluding TV broadcast share, approximately 43,138,669 euros), which is 863 times the prize of the 2017 Tour de France champion team, Team Sky (50,000 euros)! Even Sunderland, which finished at the bottom of the season, received 1,941,609 pounds in ranking prize money, highlighting the vast disparity.

Although top professional riders like Froome and Sagan earn fixed annual salaries of 5-6 million euros and substantial endorsement fees, many 'unknown' riders in the Tour de France earn only tens of thousands of euros annually, which is less than the weekly salary of many top football league players. Riders who can live comfortably like cycling stars are in the minority. Considering their daily training of hundreds of kilometers and multiple weeks of grueling races each year, along with the constant risk of serious injury, the rewards seem disproportionate. Yet, Tour de France riders continue to strive for their dreams in the race.

For sponsors, building a top-tier team for grand tours requires significant investment. The expensive racing equipment (a Tour de France bike can easily cost over 100,000 RMB), training, and other expenses often do not match the returns. Although companies investing in professional teams usually come from high-return industries like energy, media, and gambling, frequent losses make many sponsors view their investment in cycling teams as advertising, leading to frequent team name changes and even disbandments.

Therefore, professional cyclists really have it tough. Compared to popular sports like football, basketball, and F1 racing, they 'ride the most expensive bikes (though provided by the team), compete in the toughest races, and earn the least money.'

However, many cyclists' love for the sport drives them to pursue their passion and dreams, even if they do not receive much financial reward.

In Europe, some semi-professional cyclists may have stable jobs unrelated to cycling during the day and train hard in the mornings, evenings, and weekends. In many semi-professional and even national-level races, these riders often stand out. For example, British amateur cyclist Paul Oldham, who works as an engineer, won the 2011 British National Cyclo-cross Championships.