British women’s Continental team Hess Cycling, which has been mired in controversy this year following reports of missed payments for riders, an early season exodus, race licence delays, cancelled kit deals, and fraud allegations concerning its owner, has ceased operating with immediate effect.
The squad’s collapse, announced on Monday, has been blamed by Hess Cycling’s management on the “huge increases in annual budgets” within women’s cycling in recent years, driven by the sport’s “increasingly competitive” landscape.
Launched in 2023 as a Luxembourg-based team by Swiss private equity group owner Rolf Hess, the squad applied for a British Continental licence the following year, with the stated aim of becoming Britain’s leading professional women’s cycling team and taking to the start line of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes.
Announcing that he wanted to create a team capable of “consistently” winning the Tour, Hess said at the time that he hoped to increase the squad’s budget from £650,000 a year to £4.3 million within five years.
Maeve Plouffe of Hess Cycling before stage two of the 2025 Tour of Britain Women in Hartlepool (credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Hess also encouraged the team’s riders to promote the squad on social media as ‘influencers’, even suggesting that riders who, for example, help promote his group’s perfume company could be “given a chance to create her own product and she will be remunerated on a permanent basis, post career”.
“This is what I think we are saying which is unique until other teams start doing it, which I hope happens. I’m not prepared to be the owner of a team who does exactly same as all the others,” the businessman, whose Hess Sports Group also has a majority stake in Irish Women’s Premier Division side Waterford FC, said in October 2023.
“You have to see that language, that signature, in the way we conduct the business. My time would be wasted unless we have a unique way of doing things.”
Since gaining its British licence, Hess Cycling has secured a number of decent results in the UK and Europe, with Alice McWilliam winning this year’s East Cleveland Classic, while Grace Lister finished 15th overall at June’s Tour of Britain Women.
Alice McWilliam wins 2025 East Cleveland Classic (credit: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)
However, the squad has also been plagued by financial and administrative issues in recent months. As reported by ProCyclingUK earlier this year, a delay in obtaining its racing licence meant that the team was unable to take part in a UCI race until April.
In January, it emerged that Hess himself was being investigated in Spain due to allegations of fraud concerning his company United Global Water Holdings Limited.
Meanwhile, payments due to riders and staff for December 2024 were not fulfilled until February, while riders complained that travel expenses were also frequently paid late, leading to some of the team’s members refusing to pay for their own travel, fearing they would not be reimbursed.
Sources close to kit supplier Cuore also claimed they hadn’t been paid, leading to the clothing brand’s deal with Hess Cycling being cancelled earlier this year.
And in March, things came to a head when five riders left the squad, including Kate Richardson (who went on to win the Tour de Feminin in May for Handsling Alba), Irish cyclocross champion Esther Wong, Elisabeth Ebras, Natalie Quinn, and Laura Lizette Sander.
Grace Lister climbs Saltburn Bank, stage two, 2025 Tour of Britain Women (credit: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)
Announcing the team’s demise on Monday, Hess and co-managers Norbert Stocker and Pirmin Lang (the former IAM Cycling pro who confessed to doping in 2020 after being implicated in Operation Aderlass) claimed that the growing standard of women’s cycling had made Hess Cycling’s financial situation unsustainable without a merger with a larger sponsor.
“We are very happy with our achievements over the past three years,” the statement said. “Having said that, we also realised that in the past years cycle sport has become increasingly competitive with huge increases in annual budgets.
“During this year it became clear that a successful future for our team can only be secured by cooperating with a much stronger team and organisation.
“Until last week we were sure this could be achieved, unfortunately this is no longer the case and we have concluded to terminate Hess Cycling Team with immediate effect.
“We continue to be driven by our deep commitment to sport, community, and especially the empowerment of female athletes.
Imogen Wolff and Grace Lister, 2025 British road race championships (credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
“We are incredibly proud of what Hess Cycling Team has achieved. We came from nothing and were ranked as the top British Female Cycling Team, something that we are very proud of.
“We are deeply grateful for your unwavering support throughout this journey. Your cooperation has been instrumental in helping us build a team that inspired, competed and represented our shared values with integrity and passion.
“While this chapter closes our dedication to sport remains strong. Hess Sports Group and the broader Hess Enterprises family will continue to support female teams and individual athletes in cycling and other sports through sponsorships and strategic partnerships.”