“It looks like a fair price”. Questioned by our colleagues from Parisian, Marion Clignet did not mince words about the bonus granted to the first winner of the Paris-Roubaix cycling classic.
Twenty times lower premium for girls
Lex runner and president of the French Association of Cycling Riders (AFCC) has a hard time understanding why Britain’s Lizzie Deignan, the first woman to triumph on the cobblestones of “L’Enfer du Nord” on Saturday, received only 1535 euros of bonus, where his counterpart Sonny Colbrelli, winner of the men’s event at the end of a day in Dantesque conditions, received a sum almost 20 times higher (€ 30,000).
A colossal gap which does not only concern the winners: the Dutchwoman Marianne Vos, second behind Deignan touched 1135 euros, where Florian Vermeesch, left the velodrome with 22,000 euros in her pocket.
The overall endowment even reached 90,000 euros for men, against 7,005 euros for women.
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“Obviously, it’s great that there is a first Paris-Roubaix women but we cannot accept just anything. How can we still be there in 2021?”, Said Marion Clignet.
Without advocating pay equity, she recalls how difficult it is, for a large part of the female peloton, to live from the discipline, unlike the men.
The public at the rendezvous
“Men do not need race prices to live. While for many women, who receive a very small salary, it is important,” said Marion Clignet.
To reduce the difference in premiums, ASO hopes for the arrival of new sponsors during the next editions. The organizer will have arguments to make: 1.4 million viewers attended the women’s race on Saturday, or 15.5% of audience share.
The men, on the other hand, attracted 2.8 million people in front of their television.
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