Not catching a wheel and winding up on the pavement doing a face-plant is key to a winning sprint.
Pros climb fast enough that the draft does matter. Pretty sure the ITT speeds up Alpe in the doping hey days was like 15mph. So, there were parts at 20mph or so then and parts below. Definitely in draft territory.
At that point, it's all about having the engine to get the gap and hold the gap so the rider behind gives up or blows up trying.
We see pros climbing and attacking and suffering, but, they're probably not at 100% threshold the entire time. It's about holding a bit below, going way over, then a bit below. Us mortals can't do that ish.
Last edited by burnthesheep; 04-07-20 at 12:09 PM.