British Cycling Federation bans transgender athletes from competing in female events

Transgender riders will be unable to compete in competitive women’s races under a new policy issued by British Cycling today. The decision comes after a nine-month review and consultation process.

The national governing body has created two new policies that cover the participation of transgender and non-binary athletes in competitive and non-competitive events. The previous testosterone-based policy was suspended by BC in April last year pending a full review, following fears trans athlete Emily Bridges would have an advantage competing at the National Omnium Championships.

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Under the new policy competitive events will no longer have male and female categories but a female and an "open" category. Transgender women, men and non-binary athletes can compete in the “open” category moving forward.

This comes not long after Austin Killips' victory in the female version of Tour of the Gila, which caused a huge controversy that is still on-going. UCI confirmed, that it'll look into the issue deeper and try to come up with a solution by August.

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