LIZZIE Armitstead, a tireless campaigner for women's cycling, wants a minimum wage to bring them in line with their male counterparts.

The 25-year-old from Otley appreciates that women's cycling is moving forward.

The inaugural Friends Life Women's Tour of Britain and the one-day La Course by Le Tour in the Champs Elysees, which has been confirmed for next year, are being joined in 2015 by a similar women's race at the end of Vuelta a Espana.

But Women's World Cup winner Armitstead, who rides for Dutch team Boels-Dolmans, admits that more still needs to be done.

She said: "Cycling is a business, so we have to be able to offer something to a sponsor and without exposure that's going to be difficult.

"But that's where the UCI (International Cycling Union) perhaps has to be a little bit stronger.

"Before we talk about having a three-week Tour de France, which has been a massive talking point this year, we need to talk about professionalism.

"You can't expect a woman who is holding down a part-time job to train for the biggest race in the world. She has to have a minimum wage and I sometimes think it is pretty crazy that we don't have that."