'It’s about giving our sport the visibility it deserves' – Demi Vollering criticises limited women's TV coverage after Liège-Bastogne-Liège win

The disparity in television coverage between the men's and women's races is unfair, Demi Vollering has said, in comments made after her Liège-Bastogne-Liège triumph.

“We used to start very early but the live broadcast was longer,” the FDJ United-SUEZ explained in the post-race press conference. “Now we only get short coverage on TV, because the stream only begins after the men's race. But it really doesn't have to be that hard. If the timings stay as they are now, you could either show both races at the same time or switch between them.

"To me, that should be entirely doable, especially when Pogačar is solo up the road again and you already know what's going to happen," she laughed. "Why can't they switch between the two races?”

Vollering's comments came after Tadej Pogačar finished as the fastest Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner of all time in the men's race, clocking in at an average speed of 44.42 km/h. Despite the race ending, there remained a forty minute break between the end of the men's coverage and the beginning of the women's.

“The most important thing is that we keep speaking up,” Vollering said in the press conference. “I hear from a lot of people that they're really disappointed with the short broadcasts. I hope that changes."

In an Instagram post before Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Vollering reminisced on 11 years of development in women’s cycling. Back then, there was no women’s version of the Belgian race and Vollering was yet to turn pro. “Now I am lining up for the seventh time,” she wrote.

While important steps have been taken to move women’s cycling forward, the shortened TV coverage of the women’s races represents the opposite, the 29-year-old wrote.

“We have come a long way, but it shows we are still not there yet,” she said. “Only the last 30 km of a race is not enough. It’s not fair and we need to keep highlighting this. We’ve come a long way, but moments like this remind me that our sport still deserves to be seen in full, not just the final part.

“This is not about comparison,” she finished, ”it’s about giving our sport the visibility it deserves.”

The FDJ United-SUEZ rider stormed to a record third win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after going alone for the final 35 kilometres of the race.

It is not the first time TV broadcasts have been controversial this year – at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, the decision to show less than an hour and a half of the race while the whole men's race was shown drew criticism.