Elizabeth Banks called on all parties, led by the UCI, to ensure that major women's cycling events are broadcast to an international audience. Her comments were in response to the fact that although the Giro Rosa was an exciting event, it was virtually impossible to follow, with fans and journalists forced to pick up text updates on Twitter or wait for limited highlights to be broadcast.

The Giro Rosa is arguably the largest women's stage race on the World Tour, and its limited television coverage was in contrast to the Tour de France, which was broadcast worldwide from start to finish.

Banks, who is currently competing in the UCI Road World Championships in Imola, asked the UCI for improvements. She has won consecutive stage victories at the Giro Rosa the past two years and knows firsthand how delicate the balance is for women's teams from a financial standpoint after her own trade team faced an uncertain future.

"This is quite complicated. Basically, the organizers initially took a lot of flak for not providing a live broadcast. Then the organizers fought back and said the lack of live coverage was because they were struggling to save this race," Banks told Cycling News and a small media gathering on the eve of the championships. [If that is true, then the UCI needs to step in. We need to further develop women's cycling, but what good is a race if it is not televised? If people can't watch it, then what is the point of having the race in the first place?"

"We have taken a step back from last year. Last year we were able to watch most of the race and see the highlights of everything that happened. This year you only get to see about 30 minutes and can't really explain what happened in the race.

Since last year, UCI rules have stipulated that all Women's World Tour events must have at least 45 minutes of live television coverage in addition to the post-race highlights package. This rule was introduced to increase awareness of women's cycling and was seen as a step in the right direction for the sport.

When contacted, race organizers told Cycling News that near-live coverage would be provided for the nine-day event. However, this was harshly criticized by riders and fans as insufficient for a major women's cycling event.

Banks made the fair point that without exposure, women's cycling will always fall behind in attracting and retaining sponsorship. She highlighted all the drama that was sorely missed at the Giro Rosa.

"If you follow me on Instagram you can see the story of stage 8. The entire peloton exploded." Ashley Moolman Pacio was in the third group. My teammate's white jersey was in the first group and she hit a pothole and her bike exploded into six pieces." [She was on the second bike, but the saddle was too low. It was a catastrophe, but my point is that women's cycling is really exciting and people want to see it. But the UCI needs to step in, the UCI needs to step in and say we need to fund it, we need to help fund it this year, and after this year we need to be responsible for getting sponsors."

Banks said that proper television coverage would only help the sport progress, help teams meet minimum salary requirements, and make it easier to attract new sponsors.

"If women's cycling stipulates that we must have a women's World Tour team, that we must have a minimum salary, then we must help television coverage. These women say they want to help us, but in reality they are not helping the organizers. "

"If we had live coverage, I bet someone would be fascinated by it and say this is great and I will sponsor it for the next five years. Someone has to have the guts to put their guts on the line and say, 'Yes, I'll help you get the coverage you need for years to come.'" [I don't want to lose a race like the Giro. Sure, the organization is crazy, the racing is crazy, and sometimes you drive down the highway and run into oncoming traffic, but welcome to the Giro. We want to keep this race but we need to work together to develop it further and the UCI needs to help the organizers.