Wiggins in favour of Sky women's team

Bradley Wiggins has urged Team Sky to look into the possibility of establishing a parallel women's team to run alongside the men's team in the near future. However, the former Tour de France champion also warned of the danger of pumping money into such an endeavour, which would risk turning the sport into a battle of financial clout.

Speaking to The Independent, Wiggins, who already provides financial backing for the Wiggle-Honda team, described the move as "the next logical step" for the team and the sponsors, raising the possibility that Sky could follow the likes of Lotto-Belisol and Giant-Shimano in running a women's team alongside the men's.

This is the latest in a number of small steps forward for women's cycling in the past few months, following the establishment of the Women's Tour and the announcement of a women's one-day race to run concurrently with the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris.

Wiggins described this move as "a huge step forward" and "the first thing of note of somebody big putting their money where their mouth is."

However, he was also critical of the more long-term progress of women's cycling, adding, "there's been a lot of talk about that since the Olympics, but two years have gone by and I don't think we're any further forward other than a few people saying a few things."

Despite lending his support to the establishment of a parallel women's team, Wiggins also cautioned Sky against over-financing such a venture.

"I think the only danger with it is that they a future women's Team Sky become this incredibly super squad, with a great budget and great riders and then you've got the worst women's team on the circuit too and the void is huge. It becomes a financial competition rather than an athletic one."

Given the gulf between the budgets of top men's and women's squads this clearly is a danger. Team Sky's budget for 2013 is estimated at £21 million, whereas most top women's teams have a budget of less than £1 million, with some operating on as little as £250,000.

However, given that Sky have been under pressure to support a women's team for a number of years, Wiggins statement is sure to be welcomed by many.