Originally Posted by
terrymorse
And you are incorrect. There are many very good reasons to brake in a turn, with essentially no downside.
Well, it's always better to brake then crash, so that's certainly a good reason.
But no. In a race, if you brake in a turn, besides the handling effect, you also get gapped off coming out of that turn in a big way. Then you have to sprint all-out to regain the lost wheel. At 30+ mph, doing this repeatedly (especially in a crit or a curvy road race) can have a big impact on your ability to not get dropped.
That's a lot of downside.