“Equalising” track cycling’s programme will be a first step, with female team pursuit trios becoming quartets next year, riding 4,000m, not 3,000m. It is expected the other track events will follow suit in the coming years.
Some have argued that a move to four riders will disadvantage smaller cycling nations, particularly as the event was only introduced to the Olympics this year (and was won in dominant fashion by Great Britain), but the UCI believes it will encourage nations to develop more riders.
The UCI will also make greater efforts to “increase the appeal and visibility” of women’s cycling by using more of its resources to market women’s races and female riders.
The Swiss-based body hopes high-profile role models will emerge to drive interest from broadcasters, fans and sponsors: the extra promotion of a handful of elite races every year is expected to be central to this effort.
But Cookson and his colleagues will not force the 20 men’s ProTour teams to fund female teams in their colours, or compel race organisers to have a women’s version too.
It is believed they are worried about placing further burdens on the already strained finances of some races and teams, and they are convinced that women’s cycling should be a sport in its own right, and not an adjunct of men’s cycling.
There is one other immediate commitment the UCI is willing to make, however, and that is to make sure there is at least one woman on each of its 18 commissions, or sub-committees. A small step, one might argue, but the UCI has considerable work to do to meet even this concession.