DEEPLY dismayed by the cancellation of the only women's road stage race in Oceania, riders and coaches are questioning the sincerity of cycling bosses who promised improvements for the perennial poor cousins of the sport.

Australian athletes and administrators are disillusioned after the women's Tour of New Zealand - a five-stage event that drew 15 Olympians, including subsequent London gold and silver medallists from around the world in February this year - was called off for 2013 while the men's event will run as planned.

The women's race has been pulled after a directive from cycling's world governing body, the UCI, that drug-testing procedures for the event be radically overhauled.

As cycling grapples with its latest doping crisis, director of the NZ races, Jorge Sandoval, is being forced to cover a $30,000 expense for a UCI representative to oversee just 25 drug tests - five tests per day of racing - in the 26th men's tour next month.

The UCI is not demanding that more drug-testing takes place, but under the new, costly procedures, all samples must be exported for analysis in Australia, rather than by NZ's national anti-doping authority, Drug-Free Sport NZ.

Unable to outlay the same $30,000 sum for drug testing in the women's event, Sandoval reluctantly cancelled the women's tour despite his belief that it is a superior event.

Sandoval told Fairfax Media he had made it clear to the UCI that the additional expense of the revamped drug-testing procedures would mean the women's race would be sacrificed. He said he had not had meaningful correspondence about the consequences.

''They don't talk to us, they just send us documents by email,'' he said of the UCI.

''If I got my way, I would do a women's event, because the quality of the field is so much higher.

''The reason why the men's race is going on is because it has been going on for 26 years and it has financial support that has been set for the last two years, and for the next four years.''

David McPartland, the head coach of Orica-GreenEDGE's women's team, GreenEDGE-AIS, said he was ''bitterly disappointed''.

''There are a lot of good people involved in women's cycling - the organisations that are bending over backwards to make good races happen - but there doesn't seem to be a sense of support,'' he said.

Former Australian road race champion Bridie O'Donnell, who has already outlined her concerns about women's cycling in written correspondence to UCI president Pat McQuaid, is mystified.

''The UCI have made a couple of public statements about wanting to increase the professionalism and depth and support for the women's pro peloton,'' she said.

''But so far all I've seen of that are those three statements written on a piece of paper.

''There have been no actions to back that up, which is really, really disappointing.''

McQuaid has not endeared himself to female professional racers, or their bosses, following remarks he made at the 2011 world championships that women did not deserve minimum salaries.