HAMPSHIRE’S Olympic cycling star has backed calls for a women’s Tour de France and can see herself competing in the race.

Track cycling golden girl Dani King, from Hamble, believes the women’s version should be a shorter distance than the men’s race, but that it should be held on the same days and on the same course.

The 22-year-old world champion added that although her success so far has been on the track, she “does have ambitions for road racing”.

It comes after Chris Froome became Britain’s second consecutive winner of the men’s race at the weekened following in the wheel tracks of Sir Bradley Wiggins.

There are now more than 66,670 signatures on an online petition calling for a revival of a women's version of the Tour de France – last held in 2009.

Dani said: “We are in 2013 and after the London Olympics we women proved that we can compete as top athletes and put on an amazing show.

“In terms of distance I think that a women’s Tour should potentially be shorter and the length should be shorter than the men’s race.

“You would need a top field of world cup standard.

"In women’s road racing there is a lot more work to be done to get the coverage but we have proved it is just as exciting.”

She pointed to the Tour of Flanders in Belgium where the existing infrastructure is used so that women can compete but over shorter distances.