WHY IS THE PELOTON HIDING ITS TRUE COLOURS?

There is a conspicuous absence of openly LGBTQ+ riders in the pro peloton, especially among the men. How to cast off the stigma and free everyone to be themselves? David Bradford speaks to pros with first-hand insight

- David Bradford

Of the 978 riders in the men’s pro peloton, none are gay. While this statement is true on the surface – not a single male rider at WorldTour or ProTeam level publicly identifies as gay – it’s starkly implausible as soon as that surface is scratched. Estimates on the proportion of UK and US people who are gay or bisexual range from about three to seven per cent. If we take the low-end estimate for men, three per cent, then you would expect there to be about 30 gay or bi riders in the pro peloton – enough for a whole WorldTour squad. Based on those numbers, the probability that all 978 riders are straight is one in ten trillion. The question, then, is not whether there are gay pros but why none of them feel free to be open about who they really are.

As a gay man who has worked in sports media since the mid-Noughties, I can appreciate why a rider might feel compelled to keep their sexuality a secret. Even in magazine offies – surely less laddish than race paddocks – I’ve lost count of the casually homophobic comments I’ve heard. Generally, these have not been intentional insults but rather thoughtless so-called banter, “gay” used as a pejorative term, and being gay only ever mentioned in terms of speculation or cheap humour. For a long time it felt like revealing my sexuality would be to risk being judged as weak or even laughable. What must it be like for a rider in equivalent circumstances? It was time to find out.

Ryan (not his real name) is a gay rider who trained among top-flight pros and competed in several UCI races before dropping out of the sport a few years ago. Now in his mid-20s, he has agreed to speak to CW on condition of anonymity.