Female cyclist Julie Cutts Peterson has defended her decision to ‘take a stand’ against a transgender rival during a recent event.

Peterson came second in a women’s national championship race in Wisconsin last week after being beaten by Kate ‘KJ’ Phillips, who was born a biological male.

In response, Peterson refused to take to the podium – alongside Phillips – and later insisted that she ‘did not want to race against a man’. 

The statement, according to Peterson, drew shock from the fans in attendance but now the veteran cyclist has defended her actions on the day. 

In an interview with Fox News, Peterson explained that both herself and race leader Debbie Milne had been overtaken by ‘KJ’ in the final sprint. 

‘Out of nowhere came third-place KJ and beat us both in the sprint. After the race, I was angry because I knew what had happened,’ she explained.

Julie Cutts Peterson defended her decision to ‘take a stand’ after losing to a transgender rival

KJ Phillips (center) won the 55+ women’s national championship in Wisconsin last week

‘I’ve raced hundreds of races against women, thousands in group rides – sprinting against men – and I knew, in that sprint, that was a man’s sprint’. 

She continued: ‘At the finish line I was upset. I said ‘I did not want to race against a man’. In my mind I was like, ‘I can say that, I have freedom of speech.’ 

‘I 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 and I believe that most Americans and people worldwide would support men not being in women’s categories.

‘There is no amount of makeup, money, or marketing that can change that Y-chromosome, and that’s why we are taking a stand’.

Peterson also insisted that the transgender athlete’s name was not on the registration list on the day – which was previously revealed by fellow race competitor Milne. 

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Milne said that she believes Phillips’ presence in the race was ‘hidden’ from competitors beforehand.

Milne, who ultimately finished seventh in the event, said she spent $400 and drove 13 hours from Greenville, South Carolina to attend the race. 

While she saw a photo from a competitor showing that Phillips had apparently registered on June 16, Milne doesn’t believe USAC was ‘transparent’ and doesn’t want to race again until that changes. The Daily Mail has reached out to USAC and Phillips for comment.

Phillips is a passionate cyclist and shares snaps of her doing the activity to her Instagram

Debbie Milne traveled 13 hours for the race and said she was not aware Phillips was competing

‘I should have been able to see it. I should have been able to look someone up and decide if I’m even going to make the trip until they get the policies worked out,’ she said. 

‘I’m a board certified sports dietician. It’s been established that there’s a biological advantage if someone is born male… I love people… But the fact is that the person I raced today was born a biological male. 

‘And if I had known that, I could at least not just decide that I don’t want to invest my money and my time in this, until the policies follow what the science has indicated at this point.’

As per the USAC’s latest policy on transgender athletes from last year, which separates athletes into Group A and Group B, transgender athletes are allowed to compete under specific guidelines.

For Group A (higher-level) athletes, an ‘elite athlete fairness evaluation’ must be reviewed and approved by an independent medical panel, with athletes having to meet certain testosterone thresholds to compete.

For Group B athletes, they must submit a ‘self identity verification request’, which is reviewed by the organization’s technical director.

National championships (except for those which are governed by USAC’s parent organization, UCI) are treated as Group A events, meaning that Phillips – in theory – would have to qualify as such.

Milne, who has been in touch with the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), said that race organizers did not acknowledge to her or other cyclists afterwards that Phillips’ name was seemingly not on the registration, and that she didn’t hear an explanation given as to why that happened.

Milne said that Phillips displayed ‘unbelievable strength’ during the race on Monday

Phillips, whose Instagram bio reads ‘sport is for EVERYONE’, previously wrote in the comments on a Zwift Insider profile about her that exclusionary ‘rhetoric actually hurts women’s cycling… it perpetuates patriarchy and misogyny.’

‘I have been competing in sports for longer than many other women, 20 years within the IOC guidelines (yeah, I was the 1st US trans athlete under the 2004 IOC rules when I played rugby; I am way proud of that), and sadly the uptick in pushback came when gay marriage was no longer the issue de jour,’ she wrote last year.

‘There is a faction out there that just can’t stand seeing change. Now the focus is on trans/non-gender conformity, which has hit the list of hyped controversy and hate, and the followers of this thought won’t or don’t want to take the time to see that there isn’t a problem…that MORE women (WTFNB [women, trans, femme and non-binary] included) are better for all sports.’

Milne’s comments come as the University of Pennsylvania agreed to resolve alleged Title IX violations over the school’s transgender former swimmer, Lia Thomas.

The Department of Education said  that the school will ban trans athletes from women’s competitions and erase Thomas from the school’s record books.

Swimmers impacted by Thomas’ inclusion in women’s NCAA competitions will also receive a personal apology from Penn and be retroactively awarded records and titles.