Mick Hartley

From Cycling Weekly:

Cynisca Cycling, a France-based, American pro women's cycling team, today confirmed it has parted ways with its board member Inga Thompson, a celebrated three-time Olympian and vocal anti-trans inclusion advocate associated with the Save Women’s Sport organization.

"Inga Thompson is no longer a member of the Cynisca board of directors and will have no consulting or any other role with Cynisca," the team announced in a statement.

"The association with Ms. Thompson has affected Cynisca's brand and reputation."

What's so poisonous about Inga Thompson? Well, she's of the strange opinion that men shouldn't compete in women's cycling events. Since everything is seen from the man's point of view, this means that the focus is entirely on her wanting to ban people, rather than her wanting to protect women's cycling – which nobody really cares about. 

Thompson was invited to serve on the team's board of directors earlier this year due to her "impressive palmarés and a wealth of knowledge on international race strategy, tactics and training," the team says.

Her "impressive palmarés"? That's her impressive record of achievements. Calm down at the back there.

A U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame inductee, Thompson is a five-time U.S. national road race champion, a three-time member of the U.S. Olympic team, a Tour de France féminin podium finisher, and a three-time silver medalist at the UCI World Road Championships.

In recent years, Thompson has also become one of the loudest voices in the anti-transgender inclusion movement, advocating for the banning of transgender athletes in women's categories.

"If shared in the absence of politics, her knowledge and experience would benefit many and advance cycling for everyone. However, she has decided to dedicate her time to excluding people that are otherwise and currently eligible to compete in UCI events. She has also attempted to use our team as a platform for her political activity," Cynisca states.

The "anti-transgender inclusion movement" – aka the pro-women's sport movement.

"Ms. Thompson's departure resolves a troubling conflict of interest. Cynisca is an apolitical organization, and her campaign and methods, by charter, UCI Code of Ethics, U.S. law and decency, are not and will never be Cynisca's mission," the team states.

"To be clear, Ms. Thompson is entitled to her opinions and advocacy, but her methods and personal attacks are inconsistent with Cynisca's mission to advance opportunities for women. Those methods, well-documented on Ms. Thompson's social media presence, include dehumanization of transgender people, spreading misinformation, demagoguery, and personal attacks on anyone who opposes her views."

"Our mission has been and always will be that of advancing women at all levels of cycling and doing so in a framework of equality, fairness, and tolerance. Despite the negativity fostered by Ms. Thompson, we are succeeding and will push forward faster without her."

Advancing women – and men who claim to be women, thereby stealing places from, you know, real actual women.

This announcement comes just a day after the former Olympian went on Fox News encouraging cyclists to 'take a knee' to protest UCI's transgender inclusion policy in response to trans cyclist Austin Killips won the pro women's category at the Tour of the Gila earlier this month.

"We're asking the owners of the team to step up and for fans to come and have an active support for [women] so that we can have equality in women's sports," she said.

Well, obviously, she had to go.