Jumbo-Visma awarded top prize money as Remco Evenepoel saves Soudal Quick-Step's Vuelta a España

1-2-3 on GC ensures Sepp Kuss' team sweep up the majority of the prize pot, as Astana Qazaqstan struggle

12:30, Tuesday 19th September 2023

George Poole

Junior Writer

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Sepp Kuss' surprising rise has opened the door for huge spoils to be shared amongst his teammates

Be it through injuries, misfortune or bad form, the Vuelta a España will have left many teams counting their losses, not least Ineos Grenadiers and Geraint Thomas, who have spoken of their disappointment to. But for all the controversy and rotten luck that the Vuelta so often produces, for those on the other side of the coin, handsome rewards await.

As the race drew to a close on Sunday evening, the tallying began on the final prize money to be dished out amongst the 22 teams, with a total prize pot of €1,116,835 distributed by race organisers Unipublic and the ASO.

Unsurprisingly, it was Jumbo-Visma who emerged on top with a whopping kitty of €364,985, owing to their remarkable success at this year's race.

Jumbo-Visma rewarded handsomely for 1-2-3 and five stage victories

The list of achievements from Jumbo-Visma at the Vuelta is incredulous, but includes: spending 13 days in the red jersey; winning five stages; leading the teams classification for 16 days and ultimately winning it; holding the KoM jersey for a day; finishing 1-2-3 on two separate stages; winning the Vuelta's overall title, oh, and finishing 1-2-3 on general classification.

Suffice it to say, Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič delivered the most memorable Grand Tour in the Dutch team's history, not to forget the enormous contributions made by their teammates Robert Gesink, Attila Valter, Dylan van Baarle, Jan Tratnik and Wilco Kelderman.

Such was their dominance that their eventual prize pot of €363,985 is more than the next four successful teams combined.

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Remco Evenepoel helps Soudal Quick-Step mop up the scraps left by Jumbo-Visma

Heading into the Vuelta a España, Soudal Quick-Step had their eyes on the prize of the red jersey, but with Remco Evenepoel's capitulation on the Col d'Aubisque during stage 13, these plans required a drastic change. Gone was the desire for a strong GC push and in came desires for the mountains jersey and stage victories.

Before this successful tilt, however, the Belgian team hadn't been shy in accumulating prize money, with Evenepoel winning stage 3, before spending three stages in the lead of the race. The 23-year-old had also finished runner-up on stages 8 and 10.

Undeterred by the stage 13 disappointment, Evenepoel would go on to win three stages, numerous mountains points throughout the final week, spend seven days in the blue polka dot jersey and eventually win the classification in Madrid. His efforts went a long way to ensuring Soudal Quick-Step finished the Vuelta in second place in the prize money ranking, tallying up €98,965.

Meanwhile, awarded for Juan Ayuso's consistency throughout the three weeks, João Almeida's battling performances to finish ninth and a stage victory from Sebastián Molano, UAE Team Emirates took home the third most prize money with €95,530.

Ayuso's Vuelta perhaps flattered to deceive on the face of it, with no stage wins, a chasm between himself in fourth and Roglič in third, and the lack of a defining performance throughout the race. However, this reflection must be tempered with the fact that Ayuso was riding only his second Grand Tour, Vingegaard had been a surprising late addition and Kuss proved a revelation.

Juan Ayuso spoke of aiming for the podium and a stage win, but was left chasing Jumbo-Visma's shadows for most of the final week

In a parallel timeline, Ayuso may have repeated his feat of 12 months ago in finishing on the podium at the Vuelta, but it was not to be in the face of Jumbo-Visma's dominance. It would be wise to avoid the unfair comparisons between Ayuso's sequel to a breakthrough Vuelta, with that of his teammate Tadej Pogačar, who would, of course, win the 2020 Tour de France in his second coming.

Ayuso and his UAE Team Emirates squad were one of the biggest beneficiaries of Evenepoel's stage 13 collapse, propelling the Spaniard into the lead of the young rider classification, with his hold on the white jersey not ebbing between the Col du Tourmalet and Madrid.

Rounding out the four successful teams whose combined (and commendable) prize pots are surpassed by that of Jumbo-Visma, are Bahrain Victorious with €80,245 and Bora-Hansgrohe with €64,680.

The former enjoyed the renaissance of Mikel Landa during the Vuelta's final week, which allowed the soon-to-be teammate of Evenepoel to finish in fifth place in Madrid. The Bahraini squad ended two stages in the lead of the team classification, whilst Wout Poels took a fabulous victory on stage 20 and Santiago Buitrago rounded out a successful race for the team by finishing 10th overall.

As for Bora-Hansgrohe, Aleksandr Vlasov was reliable in finishing seventh overall, with Lennard Kämna providing an obvious race highlight with victory on stage 9 and their young Belgian prodigy Cian Uijtdebroeks proved possibly the Vuelta's only sensation, accumulating a number of notable performances and taking eighth on GC.

Movistar left pondering their strategy as Alpecin-Deceuninck dsm-firmenich fare better financially

Of the teams who finished inside the top 10 on GC, it was Movistar who were least successful with the prize money distribution, despite Enric Mas notching up another consistent ride to finish sixth.

Whilst Spain's only WorldTour squad accumulated €38,150, stage winners Alpecin-Deceuninck and dsm-firmenich were able to leapfrog them in the standings and tally up €63,525 and €44,790, respectively.

Enric Mas was not aided by the younger Spaniard, Juan Ayuso, overshadowing his efforts at the Vuelta a España

Alpecin-Deceuninck enjoyed another impressive Grand Tour, making it stage victories in all nine three-week races they have ridden as a team. This time around, it was Kaden Groves who proved their dynamite, picking up three stage wins and the green points jersey on the podium in Madrid.

Three weeks earlier it was dsm-firmenich who were standing on the podium having won the opening stage team time trial in miserable conditions. Misery, it was not for the Dutch team, however, who would hold the red jersey and white jersey with Lorenzo Milesi on stage 2, before taking another stage victory through Alberto Dainese on stage 19.

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Both teams were rewarded for their efforts to be protagonists during the Vuelta, a criticism levied at the door of Movistar by much of the Spanish press. There is a feeling that Mas was a passenger for most of the race and their lack of an imprint on the Vuelta rang true in the prize money standings.

Of course, this is a somewhat unfair judgment on the three-time runner-up at this race, with Mas simply forced into following due to riding at his limits for the majority of the Vuelta. He was faced by stronger riders in the Jumbo-Visma trio and his dynamic compatriots, Ayuso and Landa.

Given the level of the peloton, however, Movistar will have to make a decision on their strategy going forward with Mas.

Should they continue to prioritise the GC and perhaps hope for top-five placings going forward, or should their goal be to race more aggressively, sacrifice some of the support for Mas and look to accumulate a greater share of the prize fund come the end of the three weeks?

WorldTour outfits left in the shadow of the ProTeams as Astana Qazaqstan walk away empty-handed

Filling the midtable of the prize money rankings are WorldTour giants like Ineos Grenadiers (€35,035) and Groupama-FDJ (32,690), and relative newbies Intermarché-Circus-Wanty (€21,745), but putting the cat amongst the pigeons and performing above their means are Lotto Dstny, TotalEnergies and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA.

Lotto Dstny did not take long to leave their mark on the race, winning stage 2 with Andreas Kron and ending seven stages with Eduardo Sepúlveda zipping up the KoM jersey. Their efforts earned them €33,130 over the three weeks, more than Lenny Martinez's spell in the red jersey awarded Groupama-FDJ.

TotalEnergies were equally rewarded for winning a stage through Geoffrey Soupe, and allowing Steff Cras the freedom to ride into 11th overall by the end of the race in Madrid. Their total bounty rose to €27,695, whilst Caja Rural-Seguros RGA's presence in the majority of the race's bounty earned them a tidy haul of €19,605.

On the other end of the spectrum lay many WorldTeams who walk away from the Vuelta with relatively sparse pockets. Arkéa Samsic, AG2R Citroën, Jayco AlUla and Astana Qazaqstan were all left with less than €10,000 in prize money, with the latter finishing bottom of the table with a measly €4,485.

It is fair to say that in the face of Jumbo-Visma dominance and the intense battle that ensued for the remaining rewards, these four WorldTeams were unable to leave their imprint on the race.

The peloton were often left scratching their heads as to what to do to counteract Jumbo-Visma's stranglehold on the race

Larry Warbasse (AG2R Citroën) - whilst speaking to GCN of his delight for Kuss' victory - admitted to The Cycling Podcast that the hegemony seized by Jumbo-Visma had left much of the peloton feeling powerless, a sentiment echoed by Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) to Daniel Friebe.

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They will hope that the astonishing season enjoyed by the Dutch superteam proves a one-off.

Full list of prize money awarded (€)

Jumbo-Visma - 364,985
Soudal Quick-Step - 98,965
UAE Team Emirates - 95,530
Bahrain Victorious - 80,245
Bora-Hansgrohe - 64,680
Alpecin-Deceuninck - 63,525
dsm-firmenich - 44,790
Movistar - 38,150
Ineos Grenadiers - 35,035
Lotto Dstny - 33,130
Groupama-FDJ - 32,690
TotalEnergies - 27,695
Intermarché-Circus-Wanty - 21,745
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA - 19,605
Cofidis - 18,360
Lidl-Trek - 18,210
EF Education-EasyPost - 17,650
Burgos-BH - 11,720
Arkéa Samsic - 8,850
AG2R Citroën - 8,550
Jayco AlUla - 8,240
Astana Qazaqstan - 4,485

Total awarded: 1,116,835

The Vuelta a España may be over, but there's still plenty of time to catch up on any racing you might have missed, with on-demand coverage and highlights available on GCN+. As for news, standings and race reports, make sure to check out our Vuelta a España landing page.