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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/44446728
Britain's Hannah Barnes believes other cycling events can learn from how the Women's Tour champions equality with its men's version, the Tour of Britain.
This year the Women's Tour has more than doubled its prize fund to match the sums awarded in the men's race.
"It's a huge deal and I'm really proud. I feel the sport is moving in the right direction and I feel Britain is to thank for that," Barnes told BBC Sport.
"I believe everyone is going to have to compete with the British races."
The Women's Tour runs over five stages, beginning in Framlingham, Suffolk on 13 June and ending in Colwyn Bay, north Wales on 17 June.
Organisers of the event announced in March that they planned to increase the prize fund for this fourth edition by 55,000 euros (£48,434) to 90,000 euros (£79,257).
This year's Tour de Yorkshire also had the same prize money on offer for both the men's and women's races.
Meanwhile, the Women's Tour Down Under drew praise in January when it announced equal prize money from next year.
Hopefully more will follow on and make it easier for more people to make a living from sport
Given the examples below I wouldn't have thought it was that sustainable
In the end you have some money in a pot and divvy it up.... but I don't think that anyone is really going to make a living from the actual prize money.
You can split this so many ways... for example the age limit on elite... or you could say certain ethnicities or heights are under represented or over represented ... but I think ultimately this starts off right WAY WAY below prize money with expectations.
I've seen different approaches starting off with kids... with separate girls/boys races ...
I get that to a point .. it's good to encourage but at the same time what does it say about expectations?
What is the reason for women's darts ? Apparently women are shorter so stand closer ... but surely all that is saying is that darts is "heightist"?? (There are a whole load of sports where being female really shouldn't make any odds... so its puzzling why there is womens rifle shooting etc.) .. why split on gender? A lot of these you do need to be fit but that isn't the be all and end-all.. of course racing drivers require fitness... small feet also helps though..
Back to the approaches ... I know one girl (or my kid does) who has no real interest in her girls result in a TT... she doesn't care as much about another gold compared to her place in the "boys" TT.
Another approach I saw recently was for the kids DH at FOD... where girls got there own places and medals but were also recognised and got medals on an overall race as well. Personally I think this is more progressive.
Some sports are IMHO better to watch in the women's anyway... Tennis springs to mind (and not just the leery reasons but) you get better rally's ...
I can't help think most of this expectation starts off with young boys and girls with little or nothing between them in terms of physical strength and we are setting their expectations at a very young age???
The main issue is the women actually need the prize money as their salaries (if they even get one) are shocking - OK so the big Grand Tour prize funds are great for the men to they're all on a decent minimum salary as it is so don't need prize money to pay the bills. That said can you really compare the top echelon of women's cycling to men's? It's vastly smaller (OK granted there's a lot of chicken and egg there) and is vastly less commercial, I imagine conti and pro-conti men's riders probably struggle to make a living to.
For me it also depends who (if anyone) is making money out of pro cycling. If ASO, for example, make millions then the riders should get a better share but I suspect it's a million miles away from other sports like football and in reality there's few, if any people getting rich from it (other than the Sagan's and Froome's). No one has a right to make money out of pro sport but there should be fair distribution of the wealth, I wouldn't be surprised though if the distribution was similar in the men's and women's World Tours, just there's much less coming into the the women's side to start with.