Quote:
Originally posted by Legolas:
quote:
Originally posted by johnny:
You're misinformed, i hear that if you win the Tour once, you'll never have to work another day in your life. There's also good money to be made in the classics like Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
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Apparently the yellow jersey winner gets 450,000 euro, it's 25,000 euro for green, same for spotted, 20,000 for white, then there's a 20,000 euro combativity prize and a best by team time of 50,000 (to be split). Then there are other small prizes like 8,000 for winning a day's stage and 350 euro for winning the yellow jersey for one day.
Sure, it adds up to a bit more, but this is one of the worst paying professional sporting events you can think of. Arguably a good thing. There's more money in the concourses following the Tour, true, but you've to be a very good and active rider if you want to win enough to last you a lifetime. [/QUOTE]Like with most sports, the real money is in sponsorships. The better you do (and the better team you're on), the more money you get. Also, good performances have a large bearing on your financial viability when you retire - sponsorships, book deals, etc.
I think there is an overrepresentation of drug incidents in cycling, although I agree with Johnny that there are other sports that are similarly overrepresented, track and field being a major one. However, I think it's probably less surprising when you think about the nature of competitive road cycling. I think it is probably one of, if not the most difficult sport in terms of the toll on your body and the degree of fitness that is needed. I don't think it's that unusual that athletes in a sport requiring that level of strength, endurance, etc. find performance enhancing drugs more appealing than something like basketball or something where you play a match a week and a few hours of training a day. Like at the world cup - commentators were all, he played the FULL 90 minutes - like, whoopee
