THE FINAL MISSION:
THE WYLER ROAD RACE
FADE IN:
1) EXT. CAR PARK – EARLY MORNING
Camera pans
across the busy car park of the Flying Fortress Inn, opposite a Village Hall on
the B-17 early on a Sunday morning in late September. Activity all around as guys from their late
teens into their mid-thirties are preparing for the race, some alone, others
chatting in small groups. OVER we hear
the voice of Bobby.
BOBBY (V.O)
Welcome
to the last race of the season, the Wyler Road Race. 24 missions down, one to go. These are the hard men, the season survivors. They just got to make it through today in one
piece.
Camera
settles on Mike neatly pinning his numbers onto his jersey.
BOBBY (V.O.)
Meet Meticulous
Mike, with an eye for detail. He’ll have checked out the course on Google
maps beforehand, no mistake. See him
folding his numbers down that little bit smaller, replacing the rusty club-issue pins
with his own clean stash so as not to snag his skinsuit. Marginal gains all the way.
Pan right to
Pete, wincing slightly and adjusting his shorts as he walks uncomfortably to
the sign-on.
BOBBY (V.O.)
Ah, the
superstitious one. There’s always a
superstitious one. Seems to be working
for him, got his first cat licence the day he applied his chamois cream after
his embrocation and has done it in that order ever since – left leg, right leg,
deep breath, undercarriage - swears it makes him go faster. Truth be told, not bad for an amateur. Rumour has it a couple teams got their eye on
him.
A burst of
loud laughter. Camera pans right again
to Jack, Johnny and Bill in matching trade team kits, leaning on a car. Johnny, the ringleader, is holding court.
BOBBY (V.O.)
Check
out the young gun hotshots, big fishes in this small pond. Overconfident and ambitious – guts ‘n glory
‘n girls. They’ll soon have that beat
out of them, either by each other or by the road. Teammates - and sure, they’re all smiles now
but give ‘em each a sniff of a win and it’s soon every man for himself. Especially true today. They've all got an eye on next season, all looking for that last chance to impress.
Camera
shifts a little to the left. We see Lenny
watching Jack, Johnny and Bill with a mixture of awe and anxiety.
BOBBY (V.O.)
First
year out of the juniors, young and awkward, desperate to be part of the cool
set - thwarted somewhat by his need to visit the bathroom at least 6 times
before the start of every race. Good
kid, though. Got heart.
JOHNNY
Hey
Lenny! Get over here! One to go, Lenny, just one to go!
LENNY
What
are you gonna do when it’s all over, Johnny?
JOHNNY
(Puts
his arm round Lenny) Wine, women and song! Not necessarily in that order.
LENNY
What
about you Jack?
JACK
Holiday. Two weeks in the sun. Top this up! (Flicks back hem of shorts to
reveal a crisp tan line)
BILL
Yeah,
well I heard you’ve been going on the sunbed in your kit to get those lines.
JACK
Shut
up.
BILL
We
got to make it through today first boys.
LENNY
(Looks uncomfortable) ‘Scuse
me Johnny…. er…. I gotta….
Lenny ducks
out from under Johnny’s arm. The camera
follows him as he walks through the car park and towards the busy HQ. Through the doors, Lenny darts left into the WC, camera goes straight ahead into a small office.
2) INT. RACE HQ
Two senior Commissaires
sit looking at the course map. They look
serious.
COMMISSAIRE
1
Remember
Oakenclough in ’07? 65 riders left from
the neutral zone that day. Picked off
like flies, they was. Unprepared. Only 14 eventually made it over that line,
and of those, 2 never raced again. Never
seen a headwind like it, hope I never will again.
COMMISSAIRE
2
You
think we’re heading to a bloodbath, Fred?
COMMISSAIRE
1
(Folds the map and stares into the middle distance) I don’t know Stan, I just don’t know.
3) EXT. CAR PARK – END OF RIDER BREIFING
COMMISSAIRE
1
… OK,
now don’t throw your empty gel wrappers on the road, you’re not in the Tour de France. If the broom wagon goes past you, you’re on
your own out there. And, and this is serious, if we see you
resting your arms on the centre of your bars we’ll pull the whole race. No question.
Good luck out there! Oh,
and one last thing before we start. We know there's going to be bandits on the course. At some point, there’s 10,000 sportive riders going to be coming at you in the opposite
direction.
Now, we don’t know where, so just be aware and keep your eyes peeled for riders with
their numbers on the front, not the back.
JOHNNY
Do
we get extra license points for taking any of them out?
(LAUGHING)
COMMISSAIRE
2
(Smiles) No
lad, just the warm glow of a job well done.
The riders
start to roll slowly out of the car park and to the neutral zone in the washed out late September
light. Lost in their own thoughts, the
scene is unnaturally quiet, but for the clicking of gears and the quiet whirr
of a Di2 motor. There is a growing sense
of foreboding. Jack grabs Johnny’s arm.
JACK
Tell
me the truth, Johnny. The truth. You scared, Johnny?
JOHNNY
(Grins)
Scared! We’re too stupid to be scared!
Jack grins
in relief, claps Johnny on the arm and rides off. Camera stays on Johnny’s face as his smile
drops and he looks to the ground.
FADES.
4) EXT.
ROAD - NEUTRAL ZONE
The riders are rolling slowly in a bunch along a country lane.
Johnny sees Bill near the rear of the group and drops back to talk to
his teammate.
JOHNNY
We’re
nearly there! Just this last race, then it’s
the off-season Billy boy! Just think,
when you’re back home kissing your girl and drinking a beer, with a big fat pizza
in front of you – how sweet to know you earned it, you deserve it! We’ll be like heroes Bill!
BILL
(Looks
uncomfortable) Sometimes I wish the season would never end. Hell, Johnny, I don’t know if I got what it
takes to make it back in the real world.
Here I feel I belong, or somethin’.
(Rubs back of neck) You should know - I signed up for the Track League.
JOHNNY
(Aghast)
Track? Bill, that’s suicide! Those guys
don’t have gears or brakes or nothin’! I've heard there's a German rides track, quads so big he could snap a man clean in two!
BILL
It’s
just somthin’ I gotta do Johnny. I don’t
expect you to understand. (Gets out of saddle and rides away, looking back over
his shoulder) I guess I’ll see you on
the finish line.
Bill rides
away, Johnny staring open-mouthed after him.
FADES.
FADES.
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