A man who goes by the name Kate "KJ" Phillips won first place at the Lyons Masters National Championships in Wisconsin July 1.
Julie Peterson, a veteran cyclist and a member of the Independent Council of Women's Sport, says USA Cycling did not disclose that the transgender-identifying man had registered.
"Debbie Milne was clearly going to win the race," she recalled about the final sprint. "I was second on her wheel, and out of nowhere came third place KJ and beat us both."
She was angry because after racing 100 times against women and in thousands of group rides against women and men, she knew in that moment that was a man's sprint.
"At the finish line, I was upset," she told Fox News. "I said I did not want to race against a man, and the whole audience just [gasped], like I shouldn't have said that. And in my mind, I'm like I can say that; I have freedom of speech."
Peterson also refused to stand with Phillips on the podium at the medal ceremony.
Debbie Milne and Kristina Gray are also speaking out against USA Cycling's handling of the event, with Milne telling Fox that she made sure she would not be competing against a man in this race before she traveled a far distance to compete in it.
"KJ's name was not on that list, and I checked it up all the way to the point of closure, when we couldn't register online anymore," she reported. "They said there would be no more registrations allowed after that, so, it was hidden from us."
Peterson also shared that she was raised believing in the Bible, "where men are created by God, and God created women from men."
"I was born and raised in America, where I learned my pronouns, and I took science classes that taught me about XX and XY," she added. "There's no amount of makeup, money, or marketing that can change that Y chromosome, and that's why we're taking a stand."
