French newspaper L’Équipe published a list of each Tour de France team’s estimated budget and there’s a vast gap between the team at the top and at the bottom.

It’s no secret that Team Sky has the largest budget in professional cycling, but Russian outfit Katusha are not far behind them in terms of cash to splash, if these figures are anything to go by.

The newspaper estimates Sky’s resources at €35m, three million more than Katusha and seven million more than BMC, funded by Swiss millionaire Andy Rihs.

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At the other end of the spectrum, wildcard team Fortuneo-Vital Concept operates on a budget of just €3.5m – a tenth of what Team Sky has to play with – while Lampre-Merida are the WorldTour team with the tightest budget, with €7m a year.

The average for a WorldTour team seems to be around the €12m/€13m mark, with teams like Trek-Segafredo and Orica-BikeExchange.

Tour de France team budgets (estimated)
Team Sky – €35m
Katusha – €32m
BMC – €28m
Tinkoff – €25m
Astana – €20m
Etixx-Quick Step – €18m
Movistar – €15m
Lotto-Soudal – €14m
LottoNL-Jumbo – €14m
Dimension Data – €13.5m
Orica-BikeExchange – €13m
Giant-Alpecin – €12.5m
Trek-Segafredo – €12m
Ag2r La Mondiale – €12m
Cofidis – €11m
IAM Cycling – €10.5m
FDJ – €10m
Cannondale – €10m
Lampre-Merida – €7m
Direct Energie – €6m
Bora-Argon 18 – €4.5m
Fortuneo-Vital Concept – €3.5m