Transwoman wins women's US cycling race & gets $35k prize

Disgraceful

And what is so galling is that it's coming just at the moment when women's cycling finally is getting some sort of parity with men. First equal purse for this race - but no, a woman can't win it.
Only the second year for ages of a decent tour de France women's race (still only 1 week compared to 3, but better than just a day....) - will that race be all women?

Cycling has always had a bit of a "win at any cost" attitude. Doping is still an issue. They have to check bikes to make sure nobody has put motors in them. If there's a way to cheat, someone will take it. Other teams aren't going to sit by, if one team can win a womens race this way, in a couple of years they'll all be fielding their own "winners".

Good point about the history of the coaching culture in cycling in particular. And of course the drugs cheating that went with it. Cycling is probably going to be one of the last sports to consider fairness.

What we need is a Lance Armstrong to step out of retirement, take some testosterone suppressents and compete in the women's race. A reformed (alleged? proven? I forget) drugs cheat who has genuinely suffered from an awful experience with cancer... now possibly identifying as a woman (but nobody can ask because that's his/her personal business). Sorry, very tongue in cheek but that combination of traits would inspire a lot of kindness and support.. whilst also holding up quite a big flag to wave about what is fair and what is not.

And to anyone that may have seen me posting on other threads that I respect others' belief in gender identity even though I don't believe I have one, I do. However, I also said I would vehemently oppose this where their personal belief impacts others. Winning this money is a very good example of the impact of Austin's own gender identity belief (or possible medical dysphoria - I don't know her personally to have a view) on others.

The problem is that then they don’t get to race at all. Even if they try to set up female-only races (not easy to replicate with no funding), they’ll be abused and threatened into letting biological men compete.

The thing about sport is that your peak career is often pretty short. So it becomes a compete now or never compete at this level thing.

Hidden under a larger pile of money, I expect.

It reads like a speculative fiction story - men start identifying as women and taking everything from them and everyone pretends they can't see anything is wrong, apart from a small group who try to fight back. Except that small group is actually the majority of the population.

My heart goes out to all women in cycling. It's an impossible situation. I spoke out against trans inclusion (in another sport) and was kicked out of a sporting competition. I'm contemplating setting up a new competition but the accusations of transphobia stick and I don't know whether I'd be able to get others to participate.

If the UK becomes an outlier in international circles with only females on the team, we'll drop in the rankings over time. There will be pressure to fit in with the norm. Coaching culture is more competitive than the sport itself - look how many sports had exploitative and abusive coaches for years - as long as they were winning, everyone looked the other way.

The USA is proving itself profoundly sexist in this way and it has big influence to make sure that men come first.

There is a delightful interview somewhere online with Austin Killips where she talks about her hormonal struggles and how difficult it is to manage her hormonal moods. Two blokes simpering at each other about the challenges of femininity. I may have thrown my phone across the room.

So unacceptable, just outright cheating. I wonder what the team mate who finished 3rd really thinks, she has her arm round Austin on the podium and looks pretty happy but maybe she's too afraid to show anger at the situation which sees her lose 2nd place to a man.

So stunning and brave, eh @Mammothwoollyjumper

This is the footage of Austin Killips deliberately sabotaging the female cyclist Hannah Arensman. Austin is in white. This person is a cheat on so many levels. And should be banned for life baed on that incident alone IMO.

https://twitter.com/i_heart__bikes/status/1610747669827424260

They can’t. If they do that they will be banned from all events and cycling for teams anywhere .

Every sport has ruling bodies which control it and which are linked to international sports organisations. These forbid participation in unauthorised and unaffiliated events

Where will they get the money to fund their own events without sponsors? How can they run an event without insurance ?

This is all pie in the sky thinking that seeks to make it the problem of women athletes. It’s not - it’s the SPORTS problem.

Unbelievable what a cheat

That prize belongs to a woman

I wonder what will happen with UK cycling. If that goes the same way as swimming, rugby and athletics it's going to leave stories like this looking very odd from a UK public perspective.

At the moment, it feels very early on in the public conscience here in the UK about fairness in sport. I think many people are too busy with their lives to even contemplate it and also, each sport is very segrated from the rest. It's not automatic that thoughts about rugby, swimming or athletics will catch the eye of someone in cycling.... The biggest turning point would be football. I hope Gary Lineker bumps in to Sharron Davies at some point and has a natter about it all 🤞🤞🤞

It feels like we're very much on the path to a public shift in conscience on this one. If enough countries can go past that tipping point, they'll bring others along with them.

Bullying women out of sports, physically and mentally.

It's a disgrace. Women should refuse to race with men. The world has gone mad.

What an absolute travesty from a shameless cheat.

In UK news, the Government has now issued guidelines, banning boys from competing as girls, in all competitive sports. They have stated that this is to ensure fair competition for girls.

What with rugby, swimming and athletics now acting rationally, let's hope that this is the beginning of the end of male cheating in women's sports.

this is the first year the women's prize money is the same as the men's

Yup. Sounds about right.

This is so unfair Biological women should simply refuse to compete against trans men, that would put a stop to this delusion in a jiffy.

Mammothwoollyjumper · Today 00:09

Congratulations to her, very happy for her

Surely you are not congratulating a male cheat.