Last updated on .From the section Sport

Team Sky's 2011 budget was £16.7m - of which £11m was on wages

Sir Dave Brailsford could set up a female Team Sky to help support "greater parity" between men's and women's cycling.

The British professional cycling team's boss said the idea was something he had been "talking about a lot".

Brailsford's comments came after Dutch world and Olympic champion Marianne Vos won the first ever one-day La Course by Le Tour de France in Paris on Sunday.

"We've got some brilliant female cyclists," Brailsford told BBC Sport.

"We all are very aware that there needs to be a greater parity, not just in road cycling but across all disciplines, both at Olympic and professional level."

Marianne Vos (far right) won La Course from fellow Dutch rider Kirsten Wild (centre)

The women's 91km, 13-lap race finished on the Champs-Elysees in Paris ahead of Sunday's climax of the men's Tour de France.

Britain's Emma Pooley is one of a number of leading female riders to lobby for the return of a stage race in France for women's road cycling.

She told the BBC: "This was the best opportunity for people all around the world to be able to see it.

Emma Pooley says La Course showcased the talent of female road cycling

"Track cyclists are brilliant at showing the world how strong women are and road cycling deserves that stage as well.

"There's definitely the potential for more, it has to grow slowly, because there's such a difference in the sports at the moment.

"There's nothing that stops women, physically. At the moment it is only a semi-professional sport so at the top level the riders are paid and they ride for time, but a lot of cyclists have to work as well to pay their way so they can't train for 250km stages."