2022 season: New top riders and sporting successes in sight

The Holzkirchen-based UCI Continental road team of Maloja Pushbikers starts the season with a promising team structure. Two Italians with experience from World and Pro Tour teams were signed up as lead riders: Filippo Fortin and Mauro Finetto. With the team mix of international elite riders and young talents in the U23 category, the aim is to achieve constant success in the UCI Europe Tour. Parallel to the sporting results, passion, motivation and community continue to be the central success factors for the Pushbikers.

The squad of Italians is completed by New Zealander Felix Meo, who also grew up in northern Italy and joins the Pushbikers together with Fortin from Team Vorarlberg. Despite these new signings, the Maloja Pushbikers remain true to their line: regionally rooted, internationally oriented and with a clear focus on promoting young talent. With the new, international riders, the team will now be even more coherent, because it takes precisely these mentors to move the entire team forward.

Three new German signings and a young Austrian will ensure a stable middle in the team: Patrick Reißig convinced with a top 10 finish in the German Cycling Bundesliga in 2021, while Paul Rudys and Philip Weber (both formerly of LKT Team Brandenburg) will strengthen the team on the mountain and in the sprint. In addition, Raphael Kopper joins the team as another climber. The contracts of Daniel Bichlmann, US-born Corey Davis and the two Bavarian U23 riders Laurin von Stetten and Tim Wollenberg were extended. The 18-year-old Corbinian Klotz from Chiemgau completes the Maloja Pushbikers as a regional young rider.

Season goals between sport, emotion and passion

“We have ambitious goals with this team,” says Rupert Hödlmoser, Sporting Director of Maloja Pushbikers. “A top sprinter in the team was our big goal for 2022, and we are very pleased that we have succeeded with the signing of Filippo Fortin. Mauro Finetto will also help the team with his experience and all-round qualities.” Hödlmoser is hoping for a new flow to run through the team from his newly assembled riders. “We are thus opening up the possibility for our young riders to be able to ride even more offensively. The functions are clearly defined and the team is more broadly positioned.

Mauro Finetto has competed in great classics during his sporting career, most recently with the French Pro Team Delko: the Giro d’ Italia, Milan-Sanremo and La Vuelta d’ Espagna. He won the Sibiu Cycling Tour as well as the Tour of Slovakia – races that were also on the Pushbikers’ race calendar in 2021. “With the Maloja Pushbikers, my goal is to be successful again in these races,” says Finetto.

The Pushbikers philosophy convinces

Word has spread that the Pushbikers do not only focus on sporting results, but that values beyond best times also play a role. So in spring, the team is also expanding the space of the Pushbikers shop, which exclusively offers bikes, clothing and accessories that the team uses itself and develops together with the companies. A new salesperson was hired and in the summer the café area will be available again for the Pushbikers community and all cycling enthusiasts.

In 2022, the Maloja Pushbikers welcome Quantum Capital Partners from Munich and the Rimsting-based Performance Center Sports Innovated to their sponsor pool, in addition to their long-standing partners. The cooperation with the Laureus Sports for Good Foundation will also continue, including for the Laureus Sports for Good Tour in June this year.

That leaves us with the jersey design. Whereas the Pushbikers were previously annual harbingers of the next year’s Maloja design, in 2022 they once again present the brand’s now official design theme for the year. With “Enrosadira”, the phenomenon of alpine glow, Maloja is focusing on the feeling of confidence this year. Team manager Christian Grasmann is happy about this supportive symbolism: “The sunset and the striking colour scheme signalise dynamism, power and indeed confidence. These are attributes that we not only carry outwardly on our jersey, but that accompany the entire 2022 team from the ground up.”