A controversial transgender female cyclist won a North Carolina cycling event, beating her crestfallen rival by five whole minutes. 

Austin Killips, 27, who was born male, throttled the competition on Saturday in a grueling 137-mile long race and managed to establish a lead early on in a race called the Belgian Waffle Ride.

By the 13th mile mark, Killips was out in front while female riders Paige Onweller and Flavia Oliveira had to settle for second and third place respectively.

The trans athlete claimed her victory was down to sheer hard work, saying: ‘It was just a grueling effort. I am just really proud to lay it out there and get the result. I asserted myself and was able to get a gap early.’

‘We were kind of all riding together for quite while and, you know, I have a cross background and I am going to attack these single track sections as hard as I can and did that. I hammered [it] and was able to stay clear.’ 

By the 13th mile mark, Killips was out in front while female riders Paige Onweller and Flavia Oliveira had to settle for second and third place respectively

Austin Killips can be seen taking to the podium in first place following the  Belgian Waffle Ride gravel race in North Carolina on Saturday

Onweller was dignified in defeat during a post-race interview but admitted her ‘power is not comparable’ to that of Killips. 

She called for trans athletes to be treated with respect – but also suggested they should have their own category to eliminate any unfair biological advantage. 

‘Most of the day I was riding with the top three women together: me, Austin and Flavia. But I just couldn’t match Austin – you know, the power is not comparable.’ 

In a blog posting recounting the day’s race, runner-up Onweller suggested that a new category for trans athletes might be appropriate.

‘A transgender athlete won the women’s overall, which has caused some controversy. For those following women’s road cycling, you are aware of the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) rule that this is currently allowed. 

‘Rather than sharing my personal opinions about the UCI rule, I think it’s most important to recognize that all athletes, no matter how they identify, should have a space to compete and race,’ Onweller wrote. 

‘Underneath all helmets is a face and a person who deserves respect, dignity and a safe space to ride bikes. In the future, I feel a separate category may be appropriate but event promoters are also learning what is best to preserve both female cycling while also creating an inclusive space for all to ride.’ 

Trans women competing in sports have hit the headlines multiple times in recent years. Critics say going through puberty as a boy lends many trans women considerable biological advantages that can make it impossible for women to beat them.

Supporters point to hormone guidelines intended to level-out the playing field, but some studies show these still fail to eliminate the inherent advantage enjoyed by trans women.  

The organizers of the the North Carolina race also appear ready to force a change in the rules, at least as far as their own competition is concerned.

‘We are listening. We understand and appreciate all opinions and comments on this challenging situation,’ the organizers wrote on Instagram on Saturday following the race.

‘With this in mind, we completely realize we have to create an official policy that addresses this important subject. We know we have to take this on ourselves with the hope others will follow suit.

‘Our plan is to have this in place for the remainder of the 2023 season. We will make this happen quickly,’ they promised.

Paieg Onweller was dignified in defeat during a post-race interview but admitted her ‘power is not comparable’ to that of Killips. She came in second place some five minutes behind Killips

The organizers of the the North Carolina race also appear ready to force a change in the rules, at least as far as their own competition is concerned

The UCI tightened their eligibility rules last year – halving the testosterone limit and doubling the transition period – shortly after a row erupted in Britain over the possible participation of Welsh trans woman Emily Bridges in a race with five-time Olympic gold medalist Laura Kenny.

But cycling’s participation policy remains more relaxed than that of athletics and swimming, where all trans women are banned from competing in the female category at an elite level.

Cycling’s world governing body recently defended its rules around transgender participation. 

‘The UCI acknowledges that transgender athletes may wish to compete in accordance with their gender identity,’ it said last month. 

‘The UCI rules are based on the latest scientific knowledge and have been applied in a consistent manner. The UCI continues to follow the evolution of scientific findings and may change its rules in the future as scientific knowledge evolves.’

Killips has been competing in women’s cycling events since 2022 with several of her wins being previously reported.

In a competition from December 2022, Killips, seen in white, was seen trying to push female cyclist Hannah Arensman off the race course during the UCI Cyclocross National Championships

Killips went on to win the women’s category of the Tour of the Gila event in New Mexico

In a competition from December 2022, Killips was seen seemingly trying to push female cyclist Hannah Arensman off the race course during the UCI Cyclocross National Championships.

Video posted to Twitter sees Killips attempting to shove 24-year-old Arensman into the boundary fence. It led to some people online calling for her to be disqualified from the race entirely.

Arensman said: ‘I fully expect that in cycling, as a full-body contact sport, you’re going to get hit at some point. 

‘But when you have someone born a man run into you, over 6ft tall, it’s quite different. I tried to keep racing, not to let it get into my head at all. That one instance caught on video felt unnecessary, though.

Hannah Arensman, 24, quit cyclocross after losing out to a trans rider for a podium spot at the national championships in December 2022

Ultimately it led to Arensman taking early retirement from the sport after she told how competing against male cyclists in women’s events had become disheartening. 

Arensman opened up in heartbreaking detail about her decision to leave the sport, saying the inclusion of trans competitors meant she would ‘lose no matter how hard I train’.

She quit the sport after losing out on a podium spot to Killips telling the Daily Telegraph: ‘I realized that if an opportunity presented itself to say something on behalf of other women, then I would take it.

‘This has gone on long enough, it has gone far enough. It should never have reached this point, it should never have been allowed. Someone has to take responsibility. 

‘This is not fair sport, and the governing bodies, who should have made the rules at the beginning, need to realize it. The very people who should be protecting our sport are not doing so,’ Arensman said.

Trans rider Austin Killips beat Arensman to a podium place at the 2022 National Cyclocross Championships in December

Aside from her December victory, last month Killips won the Tour of the Gila, a five-day international cycling competition set in New Mexico. 

During Saturday’s race, between miles 55 and 59, Killips, Onweller, and Oliveira were all grouped together with Onweller briefly managing to pull ahead into first place.

But by mile 108 Killips was able to regain the lead and began to widen the gap between himself and the female riders.

Five minutes separated Killips from the other cyclist by the time she crossed the finish line. 

A race commentator declared Killips to be the winner, while no other competitors were visible at the time of her victory.

Race organizers confirmed Paige Onweller and Flavia Oliveira came in second and third place, respectively.

Austin Killips pictured on the podium after the women’s elite race of the ‘Kasteelcross’ cyclocross cycling event, race 7/8 in the ‘Exact Cross’ competition, Saturday 21 January 2023 in Zonnebeke, Belgium

Experts, researchers and current and former athletes have claimed that trans women maintain a physical advantage over their female counterparts even after treatment.

The issue gained international attention in 2022 when trans swimmer Lia Thomas became an NCAA women’s champion after only moderate success as a male.

Tommy Lundberg, a lecturer in physiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and leading researcher on the subject, previously told DailyMail.com: ‘The most important thing is whether or not you have benefited from male development and male puberty and if you’ve done that, you’re going to have advantages you cannot undo later.’

Lundberg’s landmark 2021 study with Emma Hilton, a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester in the UK, found that men typically have a 10-50 percent performance edge over women.

After a trans woman has completed 12 months of testosterone suppression, the loss of ‘lean body mass, muscle area and strength typically amounts to approximately 5%’, according to the paper.

‘The muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed,’ the study said.