The team

In 2022, the "Velosolutions Racing Team" will consist of Faranak Partoazar from Iran and Tumelo Makae from Lesotho. Both are multiple national champions and pioneers of the sport in their home countries. They have shown great perseverance and overcome many hurdles to do what they love. The team is led by Claudio Caluori, the founder of Velosolutions and Pump for Peace, and Ariane Lüthi, the Swiss marathon champion, World Championship medalist and five-time Cape Epic winner.

The aim is to break down as many barriers as possible for the future generation of mountain bikers in their countries around the world. "The idea of a Pump for Peace race team had been around for a while, but we weren't actually planning to realize it as early as 2022. When Ariane found out that Faranak was having difficulties registering for the World Championships, she called me two weeks before Christmas while I was laying asphalt on a pump track on the Syrian border in Turkey: 'Why don't we register a UCI team to take Faranak to the World Championships? I agreed benevolently, and as you can imagine, the search for sponsors came a little too late. So their announcement will be made as soon as we have found them," says Claudio Caluori enthusiastically.

• Faranak Partoazar's fight began long before she ever set foot on a race track. She had to fight passionately for the right to ride a bike freely as a woman in Iran. With her determination and perseverance, she has challenged and changed the negative attitudes towards women in cycling in her country. Since the beginning of her professional career in 2014, she has won all national titles and races in Iran. She competed in many international races and won the first medals at the Asian Championships representing Iran, the first in the country's history for women! At the same time, she has also worked tirelessly to change the prospects of cycling for women in Iran and beyond.
Tumelo Makae is 26 years old and comes from Lesotho. He is an avid road cyclist, especially on a mountain bike. He is a five-time national elite champion of Lesotho, silver medalist at the 2017 African Championships (U23 category) and, together with South African Cherie Redecker, formed the winning two-person team for Pump for Peace at the 2020 Swiss Epic.
• Ariane Lüthi has not yet ended her career as a professional marathon rider and will continue to ride at the highest level with Pump for Peace on her chest alongside her work as co-manager of the team. She is a multiple winner of the most demanding mountain bike stage races in the world, including the Absa Cape Epic, the Cape Pioneer Trek and the Swiss Epic. She finished sixth, fifth and fourth at the UCI Marathon World Championships and even finished third on the podium in 2020. However, Ariane is not only a valuable asset because of her achievements on the mountain bike, but also because of her inspiring role as an ambassador for equality and fairness in sport wherever her international racing calendar takes her. Promoting women's cycling is another of Ariane's passions, which she pursues tirelessly. She is a member of the Womens Riders Union Council of "The Cyclists' Alliance". Ariane also regularly spends time collecting donations for charities in her adopted home country of South Africa.

A step worth taking

The vision of Pump for Peace and Velosolutions remains the same: to connect the world one rider at a time to facilitate the building of a brave new world through sport. A world where there is more joy, more health, more equality, more acceptance and more tolerance, even if it's just one step a day towards that brave new world. It's a step worth taking every day.

pumpforpeace.com