He is also prepared to sacrifice the number of riders in the men's road race to enable an increase in participation for the women's event.

The Frenchman claimed to have discussed the issue with legendary Australian rider Anna Meares in Brisbane during the Commonwealth Games and sees the team sprint as the only lingering area of inequality on the Olympic velodrome programme. 

"I am fully behind this to have three ladies, three laps for the team sprint, so we can have complete gender parity on the track," Lappartient, who replaced Britain's Brian Cookson as UCI President last year, told insidethegames here at the SportAccord Summit.

"Not for 2020 because the programme and everything [including athlete quotas] is already approved but for Paris [in 2024]. 

"When we launched the team sprint for ladies it was three, but only for a short time because many countries were not able to have three at the time. 

"But now they are able to because track cycling has grown.

"We are ready and there is no reason [not to]."

Nine teams competed in both the men and women's team sprint competitions at Rio 2016.

The same format is scheduled for Tokyo 2020, meaning there are 99 men's spots in total for track cycling in comparison to 90 for women.

Lappartient claimed he believes they would need "seven or eight" extra quota spots from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to enable a change in the team sprint format for Paris 2024. 

The difference in road race numbers is more severe.

There are due to be 130 male positions for the mass start in Tokyo in comparison with just 67 for women.

The discrepancy has remained until now because of concerns over the different standards of the two events and how there is not enough comparable depth in the women's field.

A proposal to cut the men's field could prove controversial.

"For Paris we want complete gender parity," Lappartient added.

"We have already reduced it [the imbalance in road races] and this is a goal for the UCI. 

"I don't think the IOC will give us 60 or 80 more seats, so we will probably have to reduce the men's."

Lappartient did not, however, accept the need for equality in distances between male and female races.

In cycling, the men’s road race in Tokyo will be 266 kilometres for men versus 143km for women. 

On the track, the new madison events in the Japanese capital will be 50km for men and 30km for women.

"There are physiological differences between men and women - that is the reality," Lappartient told insidethegames.

"We have increased the race distances for ladies. 

"It was more like 100 to 120 [km]; It is now 150 - a huge number. 

"But we don't want to reduce the distance for the men, where the World Championships is around 270km.

"If you want a strong race at the end you need to have distance [for men], so I don't think parity in distance is not specifically an issue."

Men and women compete over identical distance in track and road athletics events, including the marathon, as well as in triathlon, rowing and open water swimming.

There are differences in other sports, however, with no current plans to bring about distance equality in biathlon or cross-country skiing.