UCI hands out a 10-year ban to former Head of Performance for several infingements including "psychological abuse" of a rider

The disbanded Hess Cycling Team has written one more unsettling chapter in its story one year after the team's closure amidst financial problems. Former head of performance at the British team, Ladislav Demko, was handed a 10-year ban from UCI Ethics Commission following cumulated complaints regarding the Slovak's conduct coming from both former riders and staff members.

In an announcement published on Friday, the UCI informs that the proceedings followed several complaints submitted to the Commission by former staff members of that team, concerning professional misconduct, and by a rider formerly coached by Demko and with whom he had a consensual personal relationship and with whom he cohabited.

After a careful review of documentary evidence, and interviews with the involved parties, the UCI Ethics Commission concluded that Demko did in fact violate its code of ethics, and would be handed a ten-year suspension.

The investigation found that Demko’s conduct included "the habitual use of aggressive and disrespectful language in the working environment, the unsafe and intimidating driving of team vehicles, and demeaning remarks concerning the physical appearance of staff and riders."

The Commission said that this behaviour constituted an abuse of his position that had "fallen short of the standards of integrity, care and diligence required of persons bound by the UCI Code of Ethics."

The statement also outlined that Demko’s behaviour towards a rider he had coached and with whom he was in a relationship had included "requests to sever contact with persons she trusted, the dictation of the content of her messages to them, and a threatening message addressed to her psychologist […] humiliation by way of public denigration on social media, intimidation […] threats to disclose personal information and a threat directed against a person she trusted […] and infantilisation."

The behaviour reportedly continued after the end of the relationship, and the Commission noted that "the fact that the above conduct arose within a consensual personal relationship between two adults did not remove it from the scope of the UCI Code of Ethics, given the coaching and dependent relationship between Mr Demko and the rider."

As well as being handed a ban from any cycling-related activity organised by the UCI, Demko has been fined and ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings. The decision is subject to appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The governing body noted that some of the complaints in the case had been received through its SpeakUp platform. "The UCI acknowledges the courage of the individuals who came forward in this matter, and recalls that any form of harassment or abuse is incompatible with the values of cycling," read the statement.