Equal pay in Flanders women's cycling

Lorena Wiebes, winner of Nokere Koerse was the first woman to win the same amount of prize money as her male colleague Tim Merlier. Previously the prize money was set at 5,130 euros. 3,5 times less than the prize money for male cyclists. But now with 20,300 euros per race, the money is equally divided.

"Raising the prize money comes with a heavy cost, but we have no problem with that," says organizer Robrecht Bothuyne. "Women's cycling is on the rise and is becoming more and more important. Then the remuneration has to go up as well."

Flanders Classics also wants to close the gap. The organiser of six WorldTour races in Flanders has been working to take women's cycling to the next level and announces that from this year on women will start receiving the same prize money as their male counterpart.

Tomas Van den Spiegel, CEO of Flanders Classics, says prize money is not even priority number one. "Much more important is that we offer the women the same great races as the men and that they get the media attention they deserve. In that respect we are on the right track. All our races are now broadcasted, until recently there was only attention for the WorldTour races.”

A new step for women's cycling. Next up is the Exterioo Women's Classic Brugge-De Panne and will take place on Thursday, March 24. The Tour of Flanders, the best-paying one-day race in women's cycling, will take place April 3. Last year, the Dutch Annemiek van Vleuten earned just under 1,400 euros from her win, while the Dane Kasper Asgreen was already handed 20,000 euros. This year, in both the men's and women's races, 50,000 euros, including 20,000 euros for the winner, is distributed.