Your 20,30, 40 miles into a criterium and your about to approach the finish. Everyone wants the win, but only one can take the victory. It is about to be utter chaos, there will be bumping, nudging, and yelling, but unless you can sprint pull up because your going to get in the way...
In all honestly everyone in the pack thinks that they take a sprint like Cavendish, but few have the power to actually be competitive in the sprint. Non-sprinters add too much danger to sprints.
A few weeks ago in a crit two "GC" type riders pulled into my line as I approached a the finishing sprint. They bumped each other pretty hard and one almost went down. At the same time people started to sprint about 600m (what where you thinking? This is a cat3 field, if you can pull that off upgrade!) Everything was in slow-mo and I saw a split through the pack and take my chance.
Needless to say I had that gap like a freight train and if anyone got in my line I would have decimated them. According to my garmin profile I was able to hit 46.9 mph at the finish and hold 20.2 w/kg for the final five seconds. Unfortunately there was a break away so I had to settle for 3rd, but it was a decent sprint so I left with a :)
One line summary: If you cannot sprint do not try to contest the sprint!
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