Hess Cycling Team

Hess Cycling Team was a professional women's cycling team that competed at the UCI Women's Continental level. The team was active from 2023 to 2025 and was owned by Swiss businessman Rolf Hess. Originally licensed in Luxembourg, the team later moved to a British license.

Hess Cycling Team

At the Tour of Britain in 2025
Team information
Registered	Luxembourg (2023) Great Britain (2024–)
Founded	2023; 2 years ago (2023)
Discipline	Road Cycling
Status	UCI Women's Continental Team (2023–2024) Club Team (2025–)
Key personnel
General manager	Pirmin Lang
Team managers	Pirmin Lang Norbert Stocker
Team name history
2023–	Hess Cycling Team

History

Hess Cycling Team was established in 2023 as a professional women's road cycling team. In 2025 the team secured a three-year sponsorship agreement with OFX.^[1] Initially, the team raced under a Luxembourg license before transitioning to a British racing license in 2024. Owned by Rolf Hess, under Hess Sports Group, the team aspires to become the first British Women's WorldTour team. The organisation is focused on expanding its presence in both domestic and international races, aiming to build on its initial successes and attract additional talent.^[2]

On January 30th 2025 the cycling press in the UK reported that the team’s owner, Swiss businessman Rolf Hess, was under investigation for fraud in Spain. It then quickly came to light that the team did not, in fact, have the requisite UCI licence to race in 2025. It was further reported that the reason the UCI was withholding the team’s licence was because Hess had not paid riders, staff and creditors for the 2024 season.^[3]

On March 14th 2025, the UK cycling press again reported that the team were still without a licence, that current staff and riders had not been paid at the start of the 2025 season and that the team had withdrawn from their first block of races.

Hess Cycling Team, having been adamant in statements to journalists in articles printed on March 14th 2025 that the team would have the required UCI licence by no later than March 17th and would commence its 2025 race program at the Midwest Cycling Classic in Belgium on 23rd March, subsequently withdrew from the event further fuelling concerns of pending collapse. As of 19th March 2025, Hess Cycling Team were still without a UCI licence.^[4]

In early April 2025 it emerged that 5 riders; Laura Lizette Sander, Esther Wong, Natalie Quinn, Kate Richardson and Elisabeth Ebras had terminated their contracts with Hess Cycling during March, due to contractual breaches by the team. These included continual late payment of rider salaries and the fact that the team was not registered with the UCI.^[5] On 21 March 2025,amid ongoing controversy, Hess Cycling Team announced that it had been granted a UCI licence, over 3 months after the official deadline for registration. ^[6]

Roster

Source:^[7][8]

Rider Date of birth  Danique Braam (NED) (1995-09-09) 9 September 1995 (age 30)[9]  Elisabeth Ebras (EST) (2004-07-22) 22 July 2004 (age 21)  Betty Hasse (USA) (2002-09-26) 26 September 2002 (age 23)  Grace Lister (GBR) (2004-05-27) 27 May 2004 (age 21)  Alice McWilliam (GBR) (1995-07-23) 23 July 1995 (age 30)  Maeve Plouffe (AUS) (1999-07-08) 8 July 1999 (age 26)[10]  Natalie Quinn (USA) (2001-12-23) 23 December 2001 (age 23)

Rider Date of birth  Holly Ramsey (GBR) (2005-12-04) 4 December 2005 (age 19)  Kate Richardson (GBR) (2002-09-12) 12 September 2002 (age 23)  Laura Lizette Sander (EST) (2004-05-15) 15 May 2004 (age 21)  Laura Süßemilch (GER) (1997-02-23) 23 February 1997 (age 28)  Liv Wenzel (LUX) (2004-01-08) 8 January 2004 (age 21)  Esther Wong (IRL) (2006-02-18) 18 February 2006 (age 19)  Elena Wu-Yan (USA) (1996-10-07) 7 October 1996 (age 29)

Major wins

Sources:^[11][12][7]

2023

 Israel National Time Trial Championships, Rotem Gafinovitz

2024

 Israel National Time Trial Championships, Rotem Gafinovitz

 Israel National Road Race Championships, Rotem Gafinovitz

 Luxembourg National Under23 Road Race Championships, Liv Wenzel

Partnerships

2025

In October 2024, Hess Cycling Team announced a three-year sponsorship agreement with OFX, starting in 2025. Under this agreement, it was confirmed that OFX will become the main sponsor of Hess Cycling Team.^[13]