Cycling's world governing body, the UCI, has announced that female riders will earn as much as their male counterparts at World Championship events from next year.
The move is part of the UCI's efforts to improve the sport's reputation, badly tarnished by the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
The decision applies to all of cycling's disciplines with the exception of the road team time-trial, which is the only event raced in commercial team jerseys.
Money has been an issue in some sports including tennis, with some men complaining about women having equal prize money at grand slam events despite playing shorter matches.
