After racing as a professional cyclist for 13 years, Australian Commonwealth Games gold medallist Chloe Hosking was ready for another season tackling the European cycling calendar.

But just weeks out from the season's start, her professional career was unexpectedly cut short.

The French cycling team she'd signed for – B&B Hotels — collapsed, forcing her into early retirement at the start of 2023.

"I had to make a decision of whether I would return to Europe on a salary that I felt was far below my market rate, or if I would stay in Australia and finish my law degree," Hosking said.

Hosking's situation isn't uncommon for professional cyclists, with teams continuing to collapse due to increased financial pressures.

Cycling teams rely on sponsors for almost all of their revenue stream, unlike other sports where broadcast rights and stadium income contribute.

Hosking said it has left the sport with a real sustainability issue.

"[Increased female participation] has made a huge difference but where an issue has arisen is that it's also made it maybe unaffordable for other sponsors to get involved," Hosking said.

"I think they need to look at how they diversify those revenue streams to make it more sustainable for everyone involved."

Growth of women's cycling

Women's cycling has grown exponentially in recent years, and the most recent Tour de France Femmes (TDFF) had record viewership numbers.

Almost 930,000 viewers tuned into the final stage of the race according to viewer statistics shared by analyst Tina Nijkamp, compared to just over 950,000 for the men's race.

Women's teams are attractive to sponsors, with potentially lucrative returns given the low startup costs.

But the budget allocated for these teams has remained significantly lower than their male counterparts, with the average budget of a men's World Tour team is USD $28 million, compared to $3.8 million for women.

The races are also shorter and more frequently cancelled, and according to the Cyclists Alliance annual rider survey, almost half of the peloton only have a one-year contract.

Australian Olympic gold medallist and world champion Grace Brown said it reflects the high-risk nature and financial insecurity of working as a professional female cyclist.

"Sponsors will sort of sign up for a couple of years at a time, it's very hard for teams and races to plan far forward in the future," Brown said.

"If [organising contracts] is something that you're dealing with year in, year out, then that's really draining."

Britain's most successful Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) women's team, Lifeplus-Wahoo, collapsed at the start of August, leaving athletes and staff unemployed.

The team lost sponsors when they controversially failed to be invited to this year's TDFF.

In a statement, Lifeplus-Wahoo said there were lots of factors that contributed to the collapse.

"With the ever-rising cost of racing, loss of sponsor bonus income without TDFF participation, the recent bike thefts and an ongoing non-title partnership dispute due to unpaid instalments, we have sadly raced our last race," Lifeplus-Wahoo said.

Financial pressure also being felt locally

The global financial pressures aren't only being felt in Europe, with the Australian National Road Series (NRS) forced to undergo changes to stay viable.

Former professional cyclist Matt Wilson is one of the founders of the new ProVelo Super League series, which will replace the Australian NRS from next year.

He said the commercial side of running the events had become more expensive, especially over the last five years.

"For events to become sustainable, they've had to run further and further out from it where anyone could go and see it, and earlier in the morning, so no one could watch it," Mr Wilson said.

"Teams couldn't find sponsors because there was very little return on their investment.

The new privately-owned series has seven events across an 11-week season, which includes races in capital cities.

Wilson said the response from the new series – which starts in January next year — has been positive.

"It's all about trying to bring back that commercial value back into the sport, start attracting new sponsors again, start attracting new teams again and start trying to make the sport viable in Australia."

Since her cycling career came to an abrupt end, Hosking finished her law degree, created a bike brand specifically for women, and was recently employed for the FIFPro – which supports professional football players worldwide.

She said her main purpose was to help others who might find themselves in a similar position she did last year.