How much prize money does the winner of the Giro d'Italia get?

The 2023 Giro d'Italia is currently underway, and just like us, you might find yourselves wondering just how much the riders get for winning stages, donning a distinctive jersey or simply winning a bonus sprint.

Wonder no longer, then, because here's Cycling Weekly's guide to where all that prize money - €1,499,710 in total - goes at the end of the race.

One crucial thing to note, however, is that in cycling the prize money does not normally solely go to the person who has won the thing. Instead, it is custom that the prize money is split between the team that helped the winner get to the podium. 

Therefore, while the 2022 Giro winner, Jai Hindley, might have won quite a lot of money on his way to overall victory last year, a lot of that would have gone to the likes of Lennard Kämna or Ben Zwiehoff, his Bora-Hansgrohe teammates.

So here is how the €1,499,710 is split up

General classification prizes

The most money goes to the man who pulls on the maglia rosa at the end of the 21 days, as is natural. As well as the Trofeo Senza Fine - the endless trophy - and the pink jersey, the winner in Rome will get €115,668.

Finishing second on the podium will get you €58,412 with the third placed rider overall netting €28,801. 

The rider who comes fourth takes home €14,416, fifth €11,654, sixth and seventh €8,558 and eight and ninth €5,725. All riders between tenth and twentieth get €2,863, so perhaps it is not the money that will inspire you to get higher.

There is also a 'Special Prize' fund, according to Giro organisers RCS. This would mean €150,000 for the winner, €75,000 for second and €40,000 to third, with €7,000 for fourth, €6,500 for fifth and €5,000 for riders sixth to tenth.

So just for winning the Giro, nothing else, the winner could get €265,668.

>>> Who's leading the Giro d'Italia 2023?

Stage by stage prizes

Each individual stage winner gets €11,010, with €5,508 for second place and €2,763 for third, so it is always worth keeping riding for the podium on the day. 

Money is given out all the way down to 20th position on each day, with riders in 10th to 20th getting €276 each.

Furthermore, the holder of the pink jersey each day gets €2,000, so if you are a rider who is controlling the top of the general classification for long, it can get very lucrative.

Other classification prizes

Of course, the race is not just about the pink jersey and stage winners. There's the mountains jersey, the young rider competition, and the points jersey too.

For points, with the leader of the competition in ciclamino - purple to the lay man - €750 is given each day to the wearer, with €700 given to the rider who has won the most points on a single day. €400 and €200 are handed out for second and third on a single day.

Overall, €10,000 is given to the man who wins the points classification, with €8,000 for second, €6,000 for third, €4,000 for fourth, and €3,000 for fifth.

The blue mountains jersey works in a similar fashion, exactly the same with regards to the daily prizes, actually. However, the overall winner gets a bit less, with €5,000 for the points champion, down to €1,000 for the fifth placed rider.

For the white jersey competition, the classification for the best young rider, the best each day gets €750, with the top five at the end receiving prizes from €10,000 down to €2,000. In recent years, it hasn't been unusual for man in pink to also claim white.

Meanwhile, the best team - determined by the cumulative time of the three best placed riders on each squad, each day - gets given daily prizes of €500, €300 and €100. At the end of the race, €5,000 through €1,000 is given to the top five fastest teams.

Other prizes

There are other, smaller prizes on offer too, which are worth glancing your eye over, and remembering if you are wondering why a team is doing something which looks a bit odd.

Riders who are first over the intermediate sprints get €500, down to €100 for fifth. This works into an overall competition, which means €8,000 for the rider with the most points in this, followed by €6,000, €4,000, €2,000 and €1,000 for the next four. 

The Giro's version of the Tour de France's combativity award, the Fighting Spirit competition, sees €250 given to the most combative rider each day, and €4,000 to the overall winner.

The rider who spends the longest in a breakaway each day gets €100, with the person who tots up the most kilometres in an escape gets €4800. The rules for this are that the group must be less than 11 riders, and that the move must be away for at least 5km.

The final "other" prize for teams is the fair play award, with points given to the squads which receive the fewest penalties across the 21 stages.

€5,000 is given to the "fairest team", then €3,000 and €2,000 given to the second and third placed teams, respectively.