Cookson revealed that he is setting up a meeting between the Tour de France owners, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), and leading women riders to "explore the possibility" of setting up a similar women's race.

The move is a coup for organisers of a recent online petition which asked readers to sign up if they thought women should be on the starting line of next year's Tour de France.

Cookson initially dismissed the idea as "unrealistic".

However, as the Englishman noted himself, the petition has gathered more than 77,000 signatures, clearly striking a chord among those who think women's road racing has been treated as a poor relation for too long.

Cookson emphasised that the meeting would include those behind the petition, including Dutch Olympic champion Marianne Vos and Britain's Emma Pooley, as well as UCI Management Committee member Tracey Gaudry, who is Australian.


The wording of today's statement suggests that Cookson still has reservations about the petition's call for a women's race "running in conjunction with the men's event, at the same time, over the same distances, on the same days".

"It is vital," he said, "that we work as a group and tap into the wealth of know-how of people like [Gaudry], who as a pro rider rode three editions of the Tour Féminin.

"We know that some previous attempts to simply replicate men's events and men's teams have been problematic and failed, so it is vital that we learn from the past."

In his latest campaign blog, Cookson also announced that the delivery partner for the 2014 Tour of Britain, his home country's biggest international cycling event, would also organise a five-day international stage race for women.

The event would, he said, be "separate from the men's race, but it will be promoted to a high standard and will, I'm sure, be the first step in having a full equivalent Tour of Britain as it develops".

On female riders' pay, Cookson said: "We must also work on rewarding the efforts of elite women riders by guaranteeing a minimum wage and ensuring modern employment standards are introduced for the top-level teams."

He went on: "Cycling has a long way to go to ensure women's cycling is given an equal stage to the men's events.

"We won't get there tomorrow, nor next week, but what riders like Marianne [Vos] and Emma [Pooley] have achieved shows us the potential there is given the right focus, investment and, crucially, leadership by the UCI."