Organizers of Belgium's Danilit Nokere Coors Race have announced that prize money for 2022 will be equal for men and women.

This welcome news means that the women's prize purse will effectively triple starting in 2021, making it one of the most lucrative events on the women's racing circuit as it aims to be considered part of the Women's World Tour in 2022.

The total prize money for the women's one-day race will be €20,300 next year; the UCI currently sets the minimum prize money for the Women's World Tour at €7,700.

Women's race organizer Gill Stavers welcomed the news and hoped that more top women riders and teams would join the March 2022 start list.

"As a Women's Pro Series race, we have already paid the appropriate start fees to the participating teams," Stavers said.

"It is double what teams get for lower categorized races and is close to the start fee for men's teams. Now we are stepping up our efforts to close the financial gap by rewarding girls equally for their performance."

"We hope that the top teams and top cyclists appreciate our efforts and will be at the start on March 16 in Deinze. In this way we want to strengthen our candidacy for the UCI Women's World Tour. We are convinced that our races have added value in terms of sport, appearance, and economics. Therefore, we hope that the UCI will approve our candidacy for 2023."

The race also aims to change next year to a course that finishes with a tough climb on the Nokereberg to shift the balance from pure sprinters to all-rounders.

But while exciting racing is always important, the important news of financial equality is a major stepping stone for the future of the race and women's cycling as a whole.

"The UCI has set the prize money for the men's race at €18,800. This is 3.5 times more than the women's race (€5,130). However, women's cycling is becoming increasingly important.

"As far as prize money is concerned, we have to close the gap with the men's race. Our arrival point, Nokere, is a sub-municipality of Kruissem, and together with the municipality of Kruissem we are now increasing the prize money for the women's race to be on par with the men's"

.

"In addition to that, we have set aside €1,500 for the 'Pur Natur Mountain Prize'. This brings the total to 20,300 euros per race, making the Danilith Nokere Koerse the highest prize money one-day race in women's cycling. We are also tying this to our candidacy for the Women's World Tour."