After a decade-long absence, the Philadelphia Cycling Classic is returning this August, marking the reemergence of one of America’s most popular and beloved bicycle races and one of the first bicycle races in the world to offer equal prize pay for both the men’s and women’s races.
The race, which was first held for the men in 1985 with a women’s race added in 1994, is known for its leafy run down Kelly Drive, its legion of screaming fans lining the city’s historic roads, and, most of all, for its repeated climbs up the wall-like hills of the city’s Manayunk neighbourhood.
However, much of the talk surrounding the race’s return isn’t about its long hiatus, the fearsome Manayunk Wall, or even the star-studded startlist, which includes a handful of the world’s best cycling teams such as EF Education EasyPost, Lidl-Trek, Lotto-Intermarché, and Jayco AlUla on the men’s side, and CANYON//SRAM zondacyrpto and Human Powered Health represented in the women’s race.
It’s about how the race, whose title sponsor is the Philadelphia-area propane distributor AmeriGas, is picking up where it left off, offering equal $75,000 prize purses for the men’s and women’s races, which dwarfs the totals some other American races offer.
To wit, April’s five-stage Redlands Bicycle Classic and Tour of the Gila had $40,000 and $35,350 up for grabs, respectively. Meanwhile, last year, the Maryland Cycling Classic, America’s highest-ranked road race, announced equal prize purses for the men’s and women’s winners, totalling $50,000.
"I’m thrilled that we have pay parity," said Bob Flexon, CEO of AmeriGas’s parent company, UGI Corporation. "It’s such an important element to this race."
According to race director Robin Morton, the $75,000 purse is double the minimum for a UCI 1.1 category race.
Morton noted how the idea of parity at the Philly Classic is nothing new, however, dating back to 2013, when the race first featured an equal purse. It was a move thanks in large part to Philadelphia’s then-mayor Michael Nutter—who, alongside Philadelphia businessmen Carlos Rogers and Eric Robbins is now one of the race’s owners—and his wife Lisa, a former Masters World Champion and World Record Holder in track cycling, were calling for equal pay between the two pelotons.
"Mayor and Lisa Nutter were very adamant that the women’s event should be the feature event of the day and that we should have prize parity," Morton said. "And so, we felt that we needed to continue that tradition and make sure the men and the women got paid the same."
Morton pointed out how the push toward parity is something that, after a few years of high-profile gains in the world of women’s cycling, is trickling down from the top of the world of bike racing.
In 2020, Belgian race promoter Flanders Classics—the company whose events include Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Gent Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Schelderprijs, De Brabanstse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race, and the Tour of Flanders—launched the Closing the Gap project, which aimed to work toward equalising the pay between men’s and women’s pelotons.
By 2022, Flanders Classics announced they were offering equal pay for the men’s and women’s versions of the Tour of Flanders, one of cycling’s biggest and most prestigious races, The following year, Flanders Classics announced equal pay for all of their races.
"Fifteen years ago, women’s cycling had no minimum wage and really little job security," Morton said, pointing to the establishment of the Tour de France Femmes as a watershed moment in the work toward parity not only in pay but also in broadcast coverage, job security, and even elements such as guaranteed maternity leave.
"It’s really transitioned from a fragmented, semi-professional landscape into a very global industry, especially in the last five years."
And while the growing number of races offering equal prize money, there’s still a long way to go toward achieving true parity up and down the UCI race calendar, Morton points out.
"While the gap is closing, it does still remain pretty significant," Morton said. "In the Tour de France, the women’s winner gets $50k. The men’s winner gets $500,000. So there’s still a pretty big gap."
The Philadelphia Cycling Classic presented by AmeriGas is one of only two UCI-sanctioned one-day road races in the United States this year. It’s scheduled for Sunday, August 30, with the women’s 100-kilometer (62-mile) race kicking off at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. The 200-kilometre (120-mile) men’s race will follow at 12:30 pm. The race will be livestreamed on Channel 6 ABC.
