British transgender rider Emily Bridges is BLOCKED from National Omnium Championships

British transgender rider Emily Bridges has been blocked from competing at this weekend’s National Omnium Championships after a ruling by cycling’s world governing body, the UCI.

The 21-year-old was due to race in her first women’s event at the Derby Arena on Saturday, when she would have been up against five-time Olympic champion Dame Laura Kenny.

Bridges, who is a former national junior men’s champion, had been cleared to compete by British Cycling, having lowered her testosterone to the required level.

However, the UCI deemed she was not eligible under their guidelines and she has now been pulled from the competition, avoiding the prospect of a boycott by British female riders.

British Cycling said in a statement: ‘Under the British Cycling transgender and non-binary participation policy, Emily Bridges was due to participate in the British National Omnium Championships.

‘We have now been informed by the UCI that under their current guidelines Emily is not eligible to participate in this event.

‘We acknowledge the decision of the UCI with regards to Emily’s participation, however we fully recognise her disappointment.’

Under their respective transgender policies, both the UCI and British Cycling require riders to have had testosterone levels below five nanomoles per litre for a 12-month period.

Bridges pictured when riding previously as a male during the 2018 Junior Tour of Wales

But the UCI also allow themselves an extra six weeks once the 12-month period has passed to convene an expert panel to review an individual case, which they will now do with Bridges.

As UCI rankings are available at the National Omnium Championships and Bridges is still registered as male rider, they could not allow her to compete in a women’s event this weekend.

Sportsmail understands British Cycling had also registered Bridges for next month’s Track Nations Cup in Glasgow.

She was one of 33 riders included on their provisional entry list for the international event at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, opening the door for her to compete for her country as a woman for the first time.

However, even before the UCI ruling, British Cycling were not going to select Bridges in their final squad for the competition – announced on Thursday – because she had not yet competed in a women’s event and they could not judge her performance level.

Following the controversy of the last two days, British Cycling have also now called for a ‘coalition’ to address the issue of transgender participation.

‘We believe that transgender and non-binary people should be able to find a home, feel welcome and included, and be celebrated in our sport,’ they said.

‘Transgender and non-binary inclusion is bigger than one race and one athlete – it is a challenge for all elite sports.

‘We believe all participants within our sport deserve more clarity and understanding around participation in elite competitions and we will continue to work with the UCI on both Emily’s case and the wider situation with regards to this issue.

‘The concept of fairness is essential. For this reason, British Cycling is calling for a coalition to share, learn and understand more about how we can achieve fairness in a way that maintains the dignity and respect of all athletes.

‘We want to encourage all sporting governing bodies, athletes, the transgender and non-binary athlete community, the Government and beyond to come together and find a better answer.’