Mick Hartley

Good news on the cycling front:

A late intervention from cycling’s global governing body has prevented Emily Bridges, a transgender cyclist, from competing in the female category of the National Omnium Championships on Saturday.

Bridges, 21, who began taking hormone therapy last year, had satisfied British Cycling’s requirements for transgender athletes by lowering her testosterone levels below 5 nanomoles per litre for 12 consecutive months, and had been due to compete against women for the first time in the Derby velodrome this weekend, against a field including Laura Kenny, the five-times Olympic champion.

But UCI rules give them six weeks to convene an expert panel after receiving the final blood test and, as UCI ranking points are available at the event in Derby, Bridges was disappointed to hear that she will have to await the outcome of the UCI’s deliberations before she can compete in the female category….

The strength of the reaction against the inclusion of a transgender athlete in cycling — Bridges won the men’s points race in the British Universities’ Championships last month — and criticism of British Cycling’s transgender policy, along with significant disquiet among riders due to race against Bridges, has prompted the governing body to call for a coalition of interested parties to “find a better answer” on the subject of transgender athletes.

Finding a better answer shouldn't be that difficult: no men competing in women's sports, whether transitioned or not transitioned. It's that simple. But no doubt this is just another piece of prevarication in the face of overwhelming opposition. "More research is needed…"