A transgender cyclist, Kate "KJ" Phillips, won the women’s 55–59 division of USA Cycling’s Lyons Masters National Road Race in Lyons, Wisconsin, on 1 July. Second-place finisher Julie Peterson declined to stand on the podium, and several other riders left the awards area in protest. Peterson and fellow competitor Debbie Milne say Phillips’s name did not appear on the publicly available start list, alleging USA Cycling concealed the entry. Milne, who travelled from South Carolina and finished seventh, called the omission “deception” and said she would have reconsidered competing had she known Phillips was in the field. USA Cycling allows transgender women to race in female categories if they meet testosterone thresholds and pass an independent medical review under its Elite Athlete Fairness Evaluation process. The world governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, bars transgender women from female events, underscoring the policy divide now facing the U.S. federation after the Wisconsin result.