USA Cycling (USAC) has announced that it will revise its elite competition eligibility in light of the news that the Union Cycliste International (UCI) is banning transgender women from competing in women’s cycling events.
On Friday morning, the international governing body said that “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.”
Read also: UCI bans transgender athletes in female cycling competitions
USAC CEO Brendan Quirk told Velo that USAC will respond based on the change.
“In light of the recent announcement by the UCI on the changes to its Transgender Eligibility Regulations, USA Cycling will revise its elite competition eligibility accordingly,” he said.
Since 2017, USAC has had a tiered policy for transgender athlete participation. Riders at the grassroots level may compete in the gender category in which they identify, and riders competing in elite competition must compete in accordance with the regulations set by the UCI.
Until now, that meant that athletes who transition from female to male (FTM) were eligible to compete in the elite male category upon providing a written and signed declaration acceptable to the UCI Medical Manager.
Athletes who transition from male to female (MTF) were allowed to participate in elite women’s competitions if their testosterone levels had been below 2.5 nanomoles per liter for at least 24 months and remained at that level during the desired period of eligibility.
The UCI said in its statement that current scientific knowledge does not confirm that at least two years of gender-affirming hormone therapy with a target plasma testosterone concentration of 2.5 nmol/L is sufficient to completely eliminate the benefits of testosterone during puberty in men.
The current UCI guidelines on transgender participation rules have been in place since June 2022. However, the conversation to revisit transgender participation rules was renewed in May 2023 after transgender woman Austin Killips won the UCI stage race Tour of the Gila on April 30.
On May 4, the UCI announced that it would revisit the discussion about the participation of transgender athletes in sanctioned events. Later that month, USAC sent out an anonymous survey via email to their members titled, “USA Cycling Survey on the UCI Transgender Eligibility Regulations.”
USAC did not reveal the results of the survey.