The UCI Ethics Commission has imposed a 10-year ban on former Hess Cycling Team Head of Performance Ladislav Demko after finding that he breached the governing body’s Code of Ethics through his treatment of riders and staff.
The independent commission concluded that Demko had engaged in professional misconduct within the team and psychological abuse towards a rider he had coached and with whom he had previously been in a consensual personal relationship.
Demko has been banned from taking part in any cycling-related activity organised by the UCI or its affiliates for 10 years. He has also been fined and ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings.
The decision remains subject to appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Complaints came from former Hess Cycling staff and a rider
The case followed several complaints submitted to the UCI Ethics Commission.
Former Hess Cycling staff members raised concerns about Demko’s conduct in the working environment, while a rider he had coached made allegations of harassment and psychological abuse. The rider and Demko had also been in a consensual relationship and had lived together.
Some of the complaints were submitted through UCI SpeakUp, the governing body’s confidential reporting platform.
The Ethics Commission subsequently opened a formal investigation. It collected documentary evidence, interviewed complainants and brought in an independent external investigator with experience of trauma-informed investigations.
Demko was invited on several occasions to provide written comments and was given the opportunity to be heard and to call witnesses during the proceedings.
Commission found repeated inappropriate conduct within Hess Cycling
The findings covered Demko’s conduct towards both team staff and riders.
The Ethics Commission concluded that his behaviour within Hess Cycling included the habitual use of aggressive and disrespectful language, intimidating and unsafe driving of team vehicles and demeaning comments about the physical appearance of riders and staff.
It found that the behaviour fell below the standards of integrity, care and diligence required under the UCI Code of Ethics and represented an abuse of his position within the team.
The ruling adds another serious issue to the history of a squad which ceased operations during 2025.
ProCyclingUK previously reported on the turbulent final months of Hess Cycling, when the British-registered Continental team folded amid financial problems and wider instability.
The team had originally promoted ambitions of eventually reaching Women’s WorldTour level and competing at the Tour de France Femmes, but its final season was instead marked by delayed registration, rider departures and difficulties behind the scenes.
Earlier in the year, ProCyclingUK had also examined the problems which delayed Hess Cycling’s start to the 2025 season.
UCI found psychological abuse of rider
The most serious findings concerned Demko’s treatment of the athlete he had coached.
According to the Ethics Commission, his conduct included attempts to isolate the rider from people she trusted, including asking her to break contact with them and dictating the contents of messages sent to them.
The commission also found that he had sent a threatening message to her psychologist, publicly denigrated the rider on social media, threatened to disclose personal information and made a threat directed towards somebody she trusted.
It additionally concluded that his behaviour included infantilisation and humiliation.
The conduct continued after the personal relationship had ended.
The commission said the cumulative effect was to diminish the rider’s sense of identity, dignity and self-worth.
The fact that Demko and the athlete had been in a consensual adult relationship did not remove the conduct from the scope of the UCI Code of Ethics. The commission considered the coaching relationship and the rider’s dependent position to be important factors in assessing the case.
Dependent relationship treated as an aggravating factor
Demko was found to have breached Article 5 of the UCI Code of Ethics, covering general principles, and Article 6.4 relating to the protection of physical and mental integrity.
The commission also found breaches when those provisions were read alongside Article 2.1 of Appendix 1, which addresses psychological abuse.
Article 2.6 of the same appendix, concerning minors and other dependent persons, was retained as an aggravating circumstance because of the coaching relationship between Demko and the rider.
The UCI Ethics Commission consequently imposed the 10-year prohibition from cycling-related activity, together with the fine and responsibility for the costs of the case.
The length of the sanction means Demko cannot hold a role in competitions or other cycling activity organised under the authority of the UCI or its affiliated federations during that period unless the decision is changed on appeal.
Hess Cycling had already disappeared from the peloton
The ruling comes more than a year after Hess Cycling itself ceased operating.
The team had raced as a UCI Women’s Continental squad and switched to a British registration during its existence, but its final period became increasingly unstable.
Its 2025 registration was delayed and several riders departed before the team had begun its season. Once racing finally started, the wider financial problems did not disappear.
Hess Cycling ultimately shut down in August 2025 after attempts to secure the project’s future failed.
The new Ethics Commission decision is separate from the financial and ownership issues which contributed to the team’s collapse, but it provides further detail about problems experienced by people working within the organisation during its existence.
Decision can still be appealed
The UCI stressed that its Ethics Commission operates independently from the governing body’s administration.
Its decision against Demko is not necessarily the final stage of the process because he retains the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
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Photo Credit: Getty
Until any successful appeal, the 10-year ban and accompanying sanctions stand.
The UCI also used the publication of the ruling to repeat its safeguarding message, saying harassment and abuse were incompatible with cycling and encouraging riders, staff and others within the sport to use its SpeakUp system when reporting ethics or safeguarding concerns.
