UCI Reverses Course, Bans Transgender Women From Racing in Women’s Category
We will be updating this developing story.
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced a revised transgender policy that effectively ends competition at the highest level for transgender athletes who have gone through puberty, citing scientific data.
This decision comes months after UCI was criticized for its transgender policy after transgender cyclist Austin Killips took the general classification win at the UCI-sanctioned Tour of the Gila stage race in New Mexico earlier this year.
In the aftermath of Killips’ victory, UCI defended its transgender policy.
“The UCI acknowledges that transgender athletes may wish to compete in accordance with their gender identity,” according to a UCI statement. “The UCI rules are based on the latest scientific knowledge and have been applied in a consistent manner. The UCI continues to follow the evolution of scientific findings and may change its rules in the future as scientific knowledge evolves.”
Transgender opponents and media outlets like Fox News, the Daily Mail, and the Telegraph contested UCI’s position. Former Olympian Inga Thompson tweeted that UCI’s decision to allow transgender women to compete against cisgender women was “effectively killing off women's cycling.”
Weeks after defending its transgender policy, UCI announced that the governing body would reexamine transgender athlete participation in cycling after consulting with national federations and riders.
“The Management Committee decided to analyze the current situation by reopening consultation with the athletes and National Federation. Members, therefore, agreed to debate and take an eventual decision at its next meeting, in Glasgow, in August,” per a UCI statement according to Cycling News.
With much of the cycling world’s focus tuned into the Tour de France during key mountain stages UCI released its updated transgender policy.
“From now on, female transgender athletes who have transitioned after (male) puberty will be prohibited from participating in women’s events on the UCI International Calendar – in all categories – in the various disciplines,” according to the UCI press release.
In the newly released policy, effective on July 17, 2023, UCI Management Committee cited a May 2023 study that concludes “based on current knowledge, it is therefore impossible to confirm that at least 2 years of gender-affirming hormone treatments with a target plasma testosterone concentration of 2.5 nM/L are sufficient to completely eliminate the advantages associated with the increase in testosterone during puberty in males.”
The governing body further explained that individual responses to gender-confirming hormone therapy make it difficult to conclude whether current hormone therapy levels the playing field and transgender athletes may retain other advantages.
“Given the current state of scientific knowledge, it is also impossible to rule out the possibility that biomechanical factors such as the shape and arrangement of the bones in their limbs may constitute a lasting advantage for female transgender athletes.”
With the 2023 World Championships just 20 days away, UCI President David Lappartient reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to inclusion—“including transgender people.”
“However, it (UCI) has a duty to guarantee, above all, equal opportunities for all competitors in cycling competitions. It is this imperative that led the UCI to conclude that, given the current state of scientific knowledge does not guarantee such equality of opportunity between transgender female athletes and cisgender female participants, it was not possible, as a precautionary measure, to [authorize] the former to race in the female categories,” said Lappartient in the press release.
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