Man who won women's cycling race stands alone on podium after female competitors refuse to join him

A man who won his age division in a recent women's cycling race accepted his award alone after the women who finished in second and third place refused to join him on the winners' podium.

On Sunday, 46-year-old Wesley Mumford, who in 2017 began undergoing medical treatments to appear as female and who now goes by the name Lesley Mumford, trounced the competition in the 40-49 age bracket of the women's Desert Gravel Co2Ut, a grueling 100-mile gravel race along the desert mountains of Colorado near the Utah border. In fact, based on the final results, it could hardly be considered a competition. The second-place finisher, Lindsey Kriete, crossed the finish line a full 17 minutes after Mumford, and third-place winner, Michelle Van Sickle, lost to Mumford by more than half an hour.

Even after Mumford humiliated the women both physically and emotionally, he seemed nonplussed that Kriete and Van Sickle declined to join him on the winners' podium. On Monday, Mumford took to Instagram to share an image of himself standing alone in first place, arms raised in celebration and a smile of delight on his face. He also made note of the women's absence in the accompanying message. "I have no idea why so many people bailed before the podiums, but they did. I swear I wasn't the only one in my age group," he wrote in part.

Media personality Megyn Kelly of SiriusXM's "The Megyn Kelly Show" got wind of the Instagram picture and took Mumford to task for his obtuseness. After joking that Mumford was a man "until two minutes ago," Kelly said, "Now he says he’s Lesley Mumford and has won in the women’s" category.

"He suddenly decides he’s a woman and goes and steals all their medals. No wonder [female athletes] are quitting," Kelly added, according to the New York Post.

Kelly was not the only woman who supports Kriete and Van Sickle's decision not to stand on the podium. Inga Thompson, an Olympic cyclist who has medaled in the Tour de France, called it a "silent protest." "The silent protests are starting!" Thompson tweeted on Tuesday. "The women are refusing to stand on the podium with the man! Well done!!!"

Riley Gaines, a former female collegiate swimmer who has since become a national advocate for protecting women's sports, expressed similar sentiments. "Enough is enough!" she tweeted on Monday, noting that the Desert Gravel Co2Ut competition offers a non-binary category but that Mumford opted not to compete in it. Neither Kriete nor Van Sickle commented on their decision to avoid the podium.

Before presenting himself as a female, Mumford spent 14 years as a sheriff's deputy in Summit County, Colorado. He was also married to a woman for 12 years and has at least one child, a son. In 2017, his then-7-year-old son announced Mumford's transgender identity to Mumford's fellow deputies. "My mom’s going to tell you she’s transgender," the boy told the office at the time.

In 2018, Mumford was even invited to participate in the FBI National Academy as the first so-called transgender woman in the academy's 83-year history. Later that year, Mumford resigned from the sheriff's office "to pursue other interests."

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