not much to offer, but wanted to share the following.
Thanks to strava, i can now see the ride files of people with whom i raced, and sometimes, people comment on their rides. Find it rather funny that one racer with whom i raced the state crit championship lamenting that the course was not "selective" enough for him, the implication being he'd have done better on a more selective parcour.
But a break did get away in the end, and it took me a minute or so to bridge up to the winning move. I wasn't the strongest in the move, but i held on. This other racer isn't that much different from me aerobically, and he seems to also have a better sprint, but when it comes to bridging up to the winning break, he was either out of position or out of power. I guess there was some selectivity after all.
Which brings us back to the gist of the fourth post in the thread: experience. You need to have raced enough to recognize the situations that facilitate the formation of a break that gets away. Everyone knows that on a selective course, you use hills or chicanes to create separation, but not everyone knows how to approach things on on a non-selective course. This requires post race analysis, pre-race determination of people to mark, and actual racing experiences. As always, success isn't guaranteed, but you are looking at better outcomes when you have more experience.
Of course, the above is moot if you don't have the physical attributes. Even then, it's still a moot point if you don't incorporate into your training plan workouts that train you for the demands of getting into a break.