British Cycling announced today that the prize money for the National Women’s Road Series would be equal to that of the Men’s Spring Cup and Grand Prix Series. 

The series consists of nine rounds of domestic racing, starting out in April and concluding in August.

Each series – the Women’s, Men’s Spring Cup and Grad Prix will have a prize pot of £10,000 in total. Prize money for individual races will be decided by their organisers, but the overall series winners will get £3,000. The rider in second will get £2,000, third £1,000 and the winning team will get £4,000.

British Cycling’s Director of Cycling, Jonny Clay, said: “We’re committed to getting one million more women on bikes by 2020 and equal prize money was a big part of this ambition when we launched our strategy three years ago.

“More and more women are getting involved in cycling, particularly at a competitive level, and we are confident that moves such as this one are heading in the right direction of addressing the historic gender divide in our sport.”

The news comes soon after the announcement that Junior women would be racing their own, standalone events – as opposed to racing amongst senior women as per previous years.

Commenting on that development, Clay said: “The opportunity to stage a standalone women’s race has come about due to the surge in numbers of competitors eligible to race. In recent years, British Cycling has put numerous initiatives in place to address the historic gender gap within the sport, and we are delighted that the inclusive culture within our clubs and events is leading to more and more women taking up cycling for sport or for leisure, as is illustrated by today’s announcement.”

The events in the series will take place at the following dates and locations:

Sunday 9 April
Tour of the Wolds

Saturday 22 April
Essex Giro

Sunday 14 May
Women’s Lincoln Grand Prix

Sunday 4 June
CiCLE Classic

Sunday 18 June
Curlew Cup

Wednesday 28 June
Otley Grand Prix

Saturday 1 – Sunday 2 July
Alexandra Tour of the Reservoir

Sunday 23 July
North Bucks Festival of Cycling Grand Prix

Sunday 6 August
Ryedale Grand Prix

Responses from riders and team managers has been positive so far. Matrix Pro Cycling tweeted: “A big step towards equality taken by BritishCycling.”