The national governing body of cycling, USA Cycling, will prohibit transgender women from competing in any of its female categories at sanctioned competitions starting September 15, 2025.
The new policy is the strictest eligibility criteria USA Cycling has adopted to date regarding transgender participation, and follows direction from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC). The shift is rooted in the NGB Athlete Safety Policy, which requires national governing bodies to safeguard athlete opportunities and ensure fair competition. USA Cycling says it is also acting in compliance with the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, a federal law granting the USOPC authority over amateur sports governance, and President Trump’s ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ mandate (Executive Order 14201), which directs federally recognised sports bodies to define sex-based categories according to standards established in Executive Order 14168.
Going forward, the women’s categories will be limited exclusively to individuals who meet the following definition of female: “Female means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.”
What the New Policy Does
Under the new rules, USA Cycling has drawn a sharp distinction between its female and open competition categories.
The women’s category will be limited to individuals who were female at conception. As the policy states: “Female means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. For purposes of applying this requirement, an individual who was not identified as female at birth may not participate in the Women’s Category at any Competitive Event.” This definition means transgender women will no longer be eligible to compete in female races at the national level.
By contrast, the men’s category is open to all. According to the policy, “Any individual, irrespective of sex assigned at birth, is permitted to compete in the Men’s/Open category at any Competitive Event, subject to the regulations specified in USA Cycling’s Rulebook.”
Eligibility will be determined during the membership or registration process. Athletes competing in the women’s category must self-certify that they are female, which creates, in the words of USA Cycling, “a rebuttable presumption that the individual’s sex identified at birth was female.”
However, the organization retains the right to challenge that claim. Proof of eligibility may be established through an original birth certificate or “other reliable facts,” and USA Cycling has reserved for itself the sole authority to contest an athlete’s category status.
Policy History
Policies regarding transgender athlete participation have shifted significantly in recent years. For much of the 2010s, USA Cycling aligned with IOC and UCI guidelines, which allowed transgender women to compete in female categories if they declared their gender identity and maintained testosterone levels below a set threshold for at least 12 months.
That framework narrowed in July 2023, when the UCI barred transgender women who had experienced male puberty from racing in women’s events. USA Cycling followed in January 2024 with a “two-tier” policy for domestic competitions. Elite athletes were required to submit medical documentation, including hormone records, while lower-tier competitors faced looser standards.
This latest policy, effective September 15, 2025, eliminates hormone-based criteria entirely and restricts the women’s category solely to individuals who were female at conception, effectively banning transgender women from all national-level women’s competition for the first time.
The new rules will apply to all USA Cycling–sanctioned competitive events, with exceptions only for international events governed by UCI rules. USA Cycling said it will review the policy regularly and retains the right to revise it “with immediate effect at any time.”
