Vos, the Dutch cyclist who pipped Britain's Lizzie Armitstead for gold on The Mall in the London 2012 road race, was joined by another British cyclist Emma Pooley and others in signing an online letter to Christian Prudhomme, the Tour director.

"For 100 years, the Tour de France has been the pinnacle endurance sports event of the world...And for 100 years, it has been an exclusively male race," the letter reads.

"After a century, it is about time women are allowed to race the Tour de France, too.

"While many women's sports face battles of inequity, road cycling remains one of the worst offenders: fewer race opportunities, no televised coverage, shorter distances, and therefore salary and prize money inequity.

"We seek not to race against the men, but to have our own professional field running in conjunction with the men's event, at the same time, over the same distances, on the same days...


"The women's road race at the London Olympics was a showcase for how impressive, exciting and entertaining women's cycling can be...

"Having a women's pro field at the Tour de France will also create an equal opportunity to debunk the myths of physical 'limitations' placed upon female athletes.

"In the late 1960s, people assumed that women couldn't run the Marathon; 30 years on we can look back and see how erroneous this was.

"Hopefully 30 years from now, we will see 2014 as the year that opened people's eyes to true equality in the sport of cycling."

The authors ask readers to sign the petition to show that they agree "women should be on the starting-line of the 101st Tour de France in 2014".

At time of writing, the petition had attracted well over 4,500 supporters.

The 2014 Tour is scheduled to start in Yorkshire, a county in the north of England.

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