I did a real life race lol A crit, my 3rd ever, so not very experienced of course. It was 4/5 field and my goal was just to stay with the pack and not lose wheels. Mission accomplished. I wasn't focused enough to stay near the front, so I missed some guys splintering off the front. I did make it to the front of the pack on the last lap and (stupidly) just pulled them along and then did a half-hearted sprint for 26th (highest I could have gotten was 12th), so maybe I should have tried a harder effort to breakaway on the last lap just to see what I could do. But it was a fun time and toward the end I was navigating much better and finding spots to effectively save energy. Lap times were more or less 2min, and in my better laps I was at 220-240 whereas the laps I was less efficient were 250-280 (and last lap was 313w).
As for the whole team thing at 4/5 (and especially 5), it's pretty nonexistent, it's more likely everyone just goes nuts when they know someone is getting away, I don't think there are any organized efforts. 4/5's are like dogs chasing a rabbit. If the teams were that organized, you would have had strong guys from the respective clubs with you in a break.