Paula Blasi Signs Record 600,000 Euro Contract With Movistar Team
Spanish cycling has reached a financial milestone as rising star Paula Blasi finalized a multi-year agreement with the Movistar Team that will pay her 600,000 euros annually through 2029.
The deal ties Blasi to the squad run by Abarca Sport until the conclusion of Movistar’s current title sponsorship agreement with the team led by Eusebio Unzué. Her representative, Alex Carera—who also manages men’s star Tadej Pogacar—negotiated the contract following a breakthrough season that included victories at the Amstel Gold Race, the Vuelta a España, and the Volta a Cataluña, alongside a fifth-place finish at the Tour de France.
The Cost of Departure From UAE Team
Securing the transfer required a complex and costly exit from her previous squad, UAE Team L'IMAD. In an interview published on YouTube by Laura Álvarez, Blasi revealed the financial and personal strain involved in breaking her prior agreement.
“It is a very great helplessness,” Blasi said in the interview. “They didn’t make it easy for me to leave. Even paying the exit clause, it didn’t seem right to them and they kept asking for a lot of money, which obviously earning the minimum, which I’ve been earning all this year, well I couldn’t pay more. It has been very difficult.”
Despite those hurdles, the rider from Esplugues de Llobregat joins the Telefónica-backed team to assume leadership responsibilities in major stage races. She arrives following a rapid ascent, having spent only two and a half years dedicated to competitive cycling after a multisport background involving swimming, duathlon, and skiing.
How Eight Years Changed Women’s Cycling Salaries
Blasi's new compensation package shows how quickly financial structures in women's professional cycling are changing. To illustrate the transformation, Andreu Canals, former president of the Balearic Cycling Federation and first coach of Mavi García, highlighted the stark contrast with past market conditions on social media.
“In 2018 I negotiated with the Movistar Team the contract of the best Spanish cyclist of recent years, Mavi García, for 25,000 euros. In 2026, Blasi signs with the same team for 600,000 euros plus supplements,” Canals posted on X, as noted by the sources.
That comparison reveals a 24-fold increase in top-tier rider compensation at the Spanish squad over an eight-year span. When Movistar established its women’s structure in 2018, the domestic scene was largely amateur and precarious. Former world track champion Dori Ruano recalled the era of unpaved conditions, noting that riders in the 1990s routinely slept in schools or shelters and faced unreliable contracts.
“If Paula Blasi is going to earn 600,000 euros a year at Movistar, it is because the market decrees that she is worth it. And I couldn’t be happier for her and for women’s cycling,” Ruano said.
Blasi Joins Elite Tier of World Tour Earners
Blasi’s 600,000-euro annual salary places her among an elite tier of earners in the World Tour, where minimum wages mandated by the International Cycling Union have climbed significantly. Current minimum salaries for World Tour riders stand at 38,000 euros per year, while team averages hover around 85,000 euros.
At the very top of the international scale, Dutch world number one Demi Vollering leads the peloton with earnings of one million euros per year. Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky commands approximately 900,000 euros, and Italy’s Elisa Longo-Borghini earns 800,000 euros annually. These figures reflect broad commercial growth, bolstered in Spain by fiscal incentives from the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) via the ‘Universo Mujer’ program, which offers corporate tax deductions for sports sponsorships.
With her future secured through 2029 under the Abarca Sport umbrella, Blasi prepares to lead Movistar into the upcoming World Tour calendar while carrying the financial expectations of a transformed sport.
