British cycling suspend transgender participation policy

British Cycling said on Friday that it has suspended its Transgender and Non-binary Participation Policy with immediate effect.

Transgender cyclist Emily Bridges said last week that she had provided British Cycling and governing body UCI with evidence that she was eligible to compete at the National Omnium Championships and was not clear about why she had been excluded from the event.

Bridges had been due to compete in her first women's event in Derby but British Cycling said it had been informed by the UCI that she would not be eligible to participate under their current guidelines.

British Cycling said it had taken the decision to suspend the policy due to differences between its policy and that of the UCI.

"It is currently possible for trans-female athletes to gain eligibility to race domestically while their cases remain pending with the UCI (or indeed in situations where they are deemed ineligible)," British Cycling said in a statement.

"(this allows riders to) accrue domestic ranking points which impact selection decisions for National Championship races, which is not only unprecedented ... but is also unfair on all women riders and poses a challenge to the integrity of racing.

"As a result of this, on Wednesday the British Cycling Board of Directors voted in favour of an immediate suspension of the current policy, pending a full review, which will be initiated in the coming weeks."

British Cycling added that it would include women and the transgender and non-binary communities in the review process.

(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)