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aCross the road: Mud, Sweat & Gears
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| Shonak |
Posted on 12-02-2014 17:59
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Welcome to this story of Raphael Visconti, puncheur, fighter and upcoming CX extraordinaire. Below you can read the Introduction and get an overview. You'll find Intros and Reviews of each season right here in the Summary section to help you quickly catch up. There is also a list of wins and timelines of Monuments, Grand Tour and CX Season Placings below too.
Spoiler Difficulty: Extreme(CX), Hard (PCM13)
Database: StanosCrossBase 1.5 (PCM2012) & PCMDailyExpansion 2014 (PCM 2013, incl. Modifications)
STA_cyclist_progression: 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.33, 2
XML files by Kentaurus
Road Race PCM 2013 played via Career, StanosCrossBase played via Single Classic Race Mode
-Season Summaries-
(a quick way to navigate to the different parts (Road, CX) of each season)
-Team History-
(links to season starts are included)
-All Visconti Victories-
aCross the road
My father was the most gifted rider you never heard of. I’m Raphael Visconti, a young, italian-austrian cyclist. I come from a family of cyclists.
I was raised as a Coppiani, but I’m a Bartaliani in my heart. Eddy Merckx taught me humility. You’ll never be better than Merckx they told me. Marianne Vos showed me it’s still possible to dominate.
My earliest memory is when Jan Ullrich hit the wall at Les Deux Alpes 1998. I hardly learned for school, but I was taught every corner of the Dolomites. I was there at the sidelines when Contador formed his pistol for the first time at le Tour and back then he took me as a hostage for life. I bet on Tom Boonen’s Flanders domination on 2012. The money I won was enough to buy a new bike.
With that bike, I won my first amateur race and went on to impress in Italy. That secured my first contract. I’ll always treasure the goose bumps I felt that day I won. I want to save them for the rest of my life. And when my time comes, when it’ll be all over, when I’ll look back on my career, I want to remember myriads of goose bumps all over again.
Let’s defy common sense, hardships and every imaginable terrain.
I’ll dare to take it all on. I’ll take all of you on.
I fell in love with cycling. You’ll fall in love with cycling again.
They told me: Racing is life. I admit: winning is more.
-Racing History-
Story Posts
CX Timeline
| UCI World Cup | Super- Prestige | Bpost Bank Trofee | CX Worlds | | 2012/13 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 9 | | 2013/14 | 22 | - | - | 10 | | 2014/15 | 7 | 6 | - | 6 |
The Monuments Timeline
Grand Tour Timeline
Edited by Shonak on 06-12-2014 16:00
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| Shonak |
Posted on 12-02-2014 17:59
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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This may be out of date! You can find the start of each season in the first post though, which hopefully navigate better anyway.
My personal favourite reports are bold. Check them out. 
Seasons
Cyclo-Cross
Mud, Sweat & Gears
Cyclo-Cross 2013 - 2014
Cyclo-Cross 2012 – 2013
Road Season Debut 2014
(only selected races & Top 25 results!)
Long roads ahead
Road Season 2014
| Cat | Race | Result | Detail | Entry | | 1.1 | GP de Camaiore | 12th | | Report | | 1.1 | Roma Maxima | 18th | | Report | | 1. HC | Dwaars door Vlaanderen | 1st | | [url=https://pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=32805&rowstart=220#post_885801]Victory-Rep | | [/url] | | WT | Ronde van Vlaanderen | 23th | | Report | | 1.1 | Gran Prix de Cermai | 5th | | Report | | WT | Paris-Roubaix | 22th | | Report | | | 1. HC | De Brabantse Pijl | 15th | | Report | | | 1.1 | Trofeo Matteotti | 11th | | Report | | 1.1 | RideLondon-Surrey Classic | 15th | | Report | | WT | Eneco Tour | 6th | 2 Stage wins | [url=https://pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=32805&rowstart=360#post_893230]Victory-Rep | | [/url] | | 1.1 | Giro del Veneto | 10th | | Report |
Edited by Shonak on 18-04-2014 22:28
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 10:03
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Bot Agent
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Joined: 23.11.09
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| Shonak |
Posted on 12-02-2014 18:00
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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-My Team-
Season 2013
Cannondale Cyclocross World 2012-2013
 | Jamey Driscoll | Age 25 | | | Tim Johnson | Age 34 | | | Ryan Trebon | Age 30 | |  | Raphael Visconti | Age 19 |
My teammates will be mostly focusing their efforts on the American races, while I put my focus solely on the UCI World Cup, Superprestige and Bpost Bank Trofee.
Cannondale
X
To be added.
I will have mostly helper duties to Peter Sagan in the early season and may be able to go for some glory in the late season. Recovery in summer.
-Team Victories-
Season 2014
| Race | Rider | Type of Win | Entry | | Volta ao Algarve | Peter Sagan | Stage 3, HL | O | | Volta ao Algarve | Peter Sagan | GC | O | | Kuurne - BX - KR. | Peter Sagan | One Day | O | | Roma Maxima | Peter Sagan | One Day | O | | Nokere Koerse | Peter Sagan | One Day | O | | Dwaars door Vlaanderen | Raphael Visconti | One Day | V | | Gent-Wevelgem | Peter Sagan | One Day | O |
Edited by Shonak on 24-03-2014 16:47
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| Shonak |
Posted on 12-02-2014 18:00
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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This shall be a fun little project, which runs parallel to Gora Euskadi. Maybe it will turn into something bigger. I have no true aim, I just want him to win everything. It’s open season, and I might just post here 10 stages a day or none for 6 months. We’ll see how it goes. Consider this one to be the fun part, whereas Gora Euskadi is the one that turns into work sometimes. 
Why?
I stated that I like long careers, however when you are always in the same season, you can’t see much change. I am missing the speed of a real career. You know the ones where you sit for an hour at the PC and play a full stage race, and then go to bed. I want to report about the stuff of this game since I like it. That’s why I want try it with a one-rider story which are naturally faster than a team-story. While I appreciate the detail of Gora Euskadi!, it certainly takes quite its time in terms of posting the content, which inevitably slows you down and creates a distance to the content. I hope to get a more up-and-down, “running & gunning” approach to it this time around.
What?
It’s a one-rider story set in two versions of the game. The Cyclo-Cross will be played in the Single Race/Classic Mode, while Road Racing will be played in Career-Mode. Normal Development in Career-Mode, while I’ll simulate and change stats per season in Cyclo-Cross.
How?
Extreme difficulty. Cannondale Season will be played as much as it will be simulated. Each report will just reflect on the stage, rather than present it. There’s an Impression spoiler-section though for the nicest pictures and events of the day. Each race where Raphael is not included may still be presented from a TV viewer perspective.
What does this mean for Gora Euskadi?
Nothing actually yet. If anything it can help the longevity of the story. I will surely finish the current season of Euskaltel –Euskadi and from there on out, I will reassess the situation and decide to carry on or not.
Edited by Shonak on 12-02-2014 18:02
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| Faillu |
Posted on 12-02-2014 18:02
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Domestique
Posts: 418
Joined: 14-02-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Interesting new project. Let's see what he can do in some time. And with that name... I wonder what's coming next. |
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 12-02-2014 18:06
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3905
Joined: 29-01-2013
PCM$: 300.00
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Ohhhhh, that's very interesting. Been looking forward to this, it's a very good idea. And of course a bavarian is a plus, they are the coolest, aren't they.
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| admirschleck |
Posted on 12-02-2014 18:13
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Team Leader
Posts: 6690
Joined: 11-10-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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I expected this, but not so early. Anyways, good luck, looks stunning already!
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| Shonak |
Posted on 12-02-2014 18:20
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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@Faillu: Thank you very much. It's been some time on my mind.
@Dippofix: Hehe, like them the most. Guilty as charged. 
@admirschleck: I know, I'm horrible. Couldn't wait and wanted to get going. 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| MrUfo87 |
Posted on 12-02-2014 18:45
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2803
Joined: 06-01-2012
PCM$: 700.00
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A great read so far! Good luck!
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| Selwink |
Posted on 12-02-2014 18:53
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
Joined: 17-05-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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As expected a high quality start. Good luck
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| Shonak |
Posted on 12-02-2014 19:05
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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@MrUfo87: Thank you very much. We'll see how it goes.
@Selwink: Oh my, thanks Selwink. I admit I have a bit of experience by now.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Shonak |
Posted on 12-02-2014 19:11
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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-Where I come from-
My father was the most gifted rider you will have yet to meet. Born and raised in a time of large than life heroes, he spent his youth on the bicycle. The Italian dolomites were his home and he knew every corner of it. At the amateur level, he was called the Alpine Ibex due to his stubborn and tenacious way of riding and attacking. He always put his head forward like he wanted to ram you with it. “Beware of the Ibex”, they wrote on the roads he raced.
When he arrived at the professional circuit though, in the early 90ies, with countless wins in the amateur ranks in his bag, he couldn’t believe the quality of racing. People that were their entire youth worse than him suddenly passed him on the mountain. The ones he outsprinted every single-day passed him on the final meters of a non-important intermediate sprint. They let him hang there, high and dry. There you go. He felt that he didn’t stand a chance…
Call it a personal matter, but my dad didn’t recover for quite some time when they banned him for substance abuse. To this day forward, he denies he did anything. There’s no need for a confession after all when you’re innocent. I believe him with all my heart. His love for the bike never left him though, but the thing with unanswered love is: It destroys you eventually.
Before I was born, my dad was suffering depression. Anger, guilt and sadness took the best of him. But mostly it was anger at the UCI and the WADA and all those people who judged him and did him wrong. Mix that with alcohol and drug abuse and you get the picture of a bitter young man who threw his life away.
He tried to cope with the pain, he tried to let it go. “They did me wrong”, he used to tell my mother. She came from another country. They met at a cycle ride before my dad became Pro. Through all of this, my mother stayed with my dad. She said, it had become her duty to take care of him when they married. Yeah, she was old-fashioned like that.
But when she got pregnant, enough was enough. She told my dad that he should now get a grip of himself: “You spent 2 years mourning something that could have been. You could ride your bike by now again but you don’t… why? Why don’t you try it again? Are you so disappointed, so angry that you let them take that away what you love?” She left our house in the Dolomites and moved to another country.
If my dad truly loved her and his future son, than he would have to overcome his problems.
That was the promise.
Several weeks later, I was born without my father anywhere to be seen.
Edited by Shonak on 06-04-2014 01:11
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 12-02-2014 19:16
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4478
Joined: 30-07-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Good start, good luck mate
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| Shonak |
Posted on 12-02-2014 22:25
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Thank you.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 13-02-2014 01:43
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Sounds like we have a future star for the Spring Classics, Good Luck |
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| welker3257 |
Posted on 13-02-2014 02:50
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2336
Joined: 29-05-2013
PCM$: 200.00
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I've always wanted to see a Cross/Road story, good luck
I hope you can do two stories at once, wouldn't to see Euskatel officially die
Gig 'em Aggies
Fast N' Loud Cycling Project - ICL
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| Shonak |
Posted on 13-02-2014 09:30
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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@sutty68: Hopefully! And not just the spring classics. 
@welker3257: Thanks mate! No worries about Euskaltel though yet.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Shonak |
Posted on 13-02-2014 11:12
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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-The Joy of Cycling-
It took him two years until he acquired the strength to overcome his problems. I admit it might have been easier for him if my mother had helped him, but she couldn’t bear it anymore. She was always sad. She told me, she feared for my life during the pregnancy. That it would leave me with some sort of mental disorder or psychic problem… Well, tough love.
He reunited with my mother eventually and saw me for the first time. Until today, he says it was the most beautiful moment he ever had. I cherish it too as I wear the cross around the neck he gave to me as a present that day. It still fits.
About the love for cycling my father had: it passed right down to me. There was no option and no other dream I ever had than to become a professional cyclist. Right from the get-go, it was the first goal. But it was not my ultimate goal. Instead it was merely a stepping stone for my desired path of greatness.
We spent training during most of my youth. Not much room for friends, hardly anybody to talk to except for my family. You had to make sacrifices. Lots of them.
He taught me everything he knew. In return, I taught him the joy of cycling again, the one he thought he lost. We spent weeks cycling through the Alpes. People at the snack stations all around the country’s bicycle paths would just call the two Ibexes. I shared similar traits in riding with my father. Except that I was even more extreme in many regards.
I picked up Cyclo-cross on of our trips to Belgium. I prepared for Ronde van Vlaanderen’s everybody version, the one were all people could take on the infamous hills and cobbles, when I noticed some boys training on their bikes. I liked the looks of it and I tried it. I enjoyed it enough to stick on it. Also, I was pretty good at it. The first time my mother saw me with a muddy face and dirty jersey she knew that I’d stick to it for good. She knew that I had found something worth to embrace and work for. Something that spoke to me on a basic level. Call it primal instincts, I liked playing in the dirt. And that she would have to buy way more washing powder in the future.
Edited by Shonak on 13-02-2014 16:28
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| admirschleck |
Posted on 13-02-2014 11:26
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Team Leader
Posts: 6690
Joined: 11-10-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Enjoying this so far, keep it up!
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| Shonak |
Posted on 13-02-2014 16:24
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Thanks admir.
-How I became a professional-
I trained hard and kept pushing myself. I broaden the limits of what I was capable of. I took on every mountain on any weather. I feared no road and no descent. Car drivers were throwing bottles at me; I kicked at their doors for revenge. I packed myself in and trained in winter. I rode with my dad over the Alpes in summer. I rode from Koppenberg down to the Cote d’Azur. I road in circles until the world was moving again.
Despite my family’s love for cycling though, cycling hasn’t been kind to us. My father never learned a decent enough job to make some money. He ended up as a small-time journalist at a cycling magazine. He ignored his editor’s warnings when he decided to write about me one time and publish it. I had invested my won betting money I got from Tom Boonen’s victory in a new bike and with it I won my first race, a small Cyclo-cross race in upper Austria. He exaggerated a lot but thanks to his praise someone at Cannondale became aware of me. At one of the road races in Italy, he decided I was worth to pursue.
Without too much thinking, my family agreed on my decision and I became a new member of the Cannondale family. However, I have two Cannondale families. I’ll ride in Winter the Cyclo-cross events instead of staying in front of the warm chimney, and I’ll ride the road season, while taking some off-time usually in the summer months.
Expect me to be working hard and gaining little. My father has coached me perfectly though, and this is for both of us. Clear his name along the way as no one should say I’m the son of a doper.
I’ll have to perform over the years and in the time yet to come. I’ll have to fight for everything. I will have to be smart, cunning and rigorous. I’ll need luck. I’ll need support.
But most of all: I’ll need to be hungry for victories. And unlucky for the peloton: I have a pretty big stomach.
But all words are fairly worth nothing in a sport where the only thing you have to do is strike your pedals. Strike them hard. Strike them fast. Over and over and over again.
It was time to ride.
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