Transgender cyclist Austin Killips, pictured after this year's Belgian cyclocross race, won the women's race at the Tour of the Gila Photo: Belga/David Pintens .
Michael Engleman, Race Director of the Tour of the Gila, has issued a scathing criticism of cycling's governing bodies after biological male Austin Killips' victory in the women's event sparked a global furor, warning: “This could kill the sport.”< /p>
It marks the most dramatic intervention by a cycling executive in the transgender debate, raising concerns that both athletes and sponsors are leaving. In a passionate interview, Engleman argues that if the International Cycling Union (UCI) does not take decisive action on the issue of participation in women's races born of men, the crisis will increase.
“I know how hard it is to get people to invest in a women's team at any level,” he says. “And now they're asking, 'Is this something I can touch?' What to do if the athlete says the wrong thing? It hurts the sport. This is a reality that someone needs to talk about.”
Engleman has spent the past week in the midst of a transgender sports debate after Killips, who only started cycling in 2019 before undergoing hormone replacement therapy, won the Tour of Gila decisively and became the first trans winner of a UCI stage race. Team USA's top rider in the 1990s, he agonized over the decision to speak up but feels compelled to do so because “our federations are failing us.”
The violence endured by Engleman and his racing staff after Killips' victory was so brutal – “the world changes,” he admits, “when you get a message from someone saying, 'We hope you get shot in the face'” – that he spent two days hiking in the Colorado mountains to clear his head. “I'm not a hero here,” he tells Telegraph Sport. “There are many other people who are upset and threaten to quit. I think we all think: “If we decide to give an interview, is this our last day in sports?” But sometimes you have to do it.”
His overwhelming frustration is that the UCI, by repeatedly dismissing the transgender controversy, has left others to deal with flak. Engleman asked USA Cycling to make a statement implicating Killips, but the request was denied “because it was too superficial to talk about it.” He now worries that the UCI's proposal to turn transgender policy in August may just be a delaying tactic.
“They fell off the job,” he says. “It grew and grew and they hoped it would go away. Someone from one federation told me: “Let it go for a week and then worry about it at the next race.” This is not a sustainable model. I don't see why we have to reach a breaking point before we want to do anything.”
Michael Engleman was the top US driver during his racing career. Photo: Michael Engleman
Engleman's emotions are heightened by the fact that he was director of development for women's cycling in the US for six years. While he is wary of criticizing Killips personally, he is clearly concerned about the cyclist's sudden leap to dominance and the psychological effect that trans rider successes can have on promising female riders.
“I have worked with some of the best female cyclists in the world and have seen them do incredible things from the very beginning,” he explains. “Here’s someone who no one has ever heard of, who in the first UCI multi-day race [Tour of Gila 2022] finished third. It almost never happens. Austin was also third in the non-time trial bike time trial. So, it makes you think. I am a performer. You look at it and say, “This is wrong.”
Engleman, 64, worked particularly closely with Amy Dombrosky, a multi-discipline U.S. champion who died on a training trip in Belgium in 2013, aged just 26, after being hit by a truck. Ironically, Killips won last week's race wearing the colors of the Amy D Foundation team, created by the late rider's family with the express purpose of “empowering young women through cycling.”
Engleman believes that racing with a trans cyclist could backfire, especially if no rationale for the decision was offered. “If a team comes in and does something the world doesn’t understand, I expect that team to explain why they did it,” he says. “For the life of me, I can't figure out what their point is other than winning the race. I knew Amy very well. I have helped her throughout her career. I remember exactly the place where I was on the road where I heard that she had died. This transgender issue pissed Amy off, but she had to keep quiet. Everyone will say, “You can't speak for Amy, she's dead.” But the fact is that everyone foresaw the approach of this moment. And none of the powers that be, who could help the sport, decided nothing.”
Given that Engleman's peak coincided with the rise of Lance Armstrong, he admits he has an internal reaction to any sense of unfair advantage. “Sometimes, whether it’s doping or something else, you see problems that no one will solve. Women shouldn't be the underdogs, but the reality is that they are, especially in the global sports economy. I know there are athletes now who might decide that this is the case.”
As tempting as it may be to resort to fatalism, Engleman is adamant that the omerta cycling code in the transgender debate should be after the Killips affair, challenge. “It's interesting how even people who are friends pretend it's not a problem,” he says. “Everyone is too scared to touch him. But if we are talking about change, we must talk. Some of us need to defend our position.”
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