Dave Brailsford is looking into the idea of a female Team Sky as a way of giving female cyclists more opportunities as well as “greater parity” between male and female riders.

With there no longer being a women’s Tour de France, there aren’t many races for female cyclists compared to men’s and the Team Sky manager is trying to come up with ideas to increase the number of outings for Great Britain’s Emma Pooley and Lizzie Armitstead.

“We’ve got some brilliant female cyclists,” Brailsford said after the first La Course by Le Tour.