"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - help with flat coarse racing

I have just completed my first month of racing and have been doing pretty well. I am consistently getting better time trial times and am dropping everyone in my category in the hills so I think am going to do well in the stage races later in the year.

However, I am having problems winning the one off races that have shorter flat courses and am trying to come up with tactics that will allow me to leverage my better overall fitness level and not have it come down to a final sprint where I don't have as much of an advantage as I do in raw time trialling vs everyone else.

So far I have tried attacking with about 1.5 or 2 K to go, and the peloton strings out quickly and starts struggling, but before I get some distance usually 1 or 2 guys can latch on to my wheel and at least one of them usually ends up getting around me in the last 10 to 20 meters. I am not sure if I should be attacking earlier on in the final few Ks or just trying to wear everyone out earlier in the race so by the time the final few kilos come around they can't latch on to my wheel when I decide to go. Any tactical advice on beating the peloton and sprinters on flat courses?

course

attack earlier and repeatedly until you've worn down the others and can either ride off alone or with a small selection. If others come with, dont pull them around, let them pull you with = work, then attack them in the last K or final Ks.

Attack from the back with a lot of speed. Preride the course to see where you can attack so you can hold it till finish. It may work one day.
Is the course completely flat?

http://cycle-smart.com/Articles/find.php?search=30

^this article breaks-down your options pretty clearly

Plan to go 1 or 2 turns before the finish. Attack as hard as you can about 50 yards from the corner you have chosen, the field will go slower than 1 guy can so that will give you an advantage to open a gap. Put your head down, don't look back and go as hard as you can.

The key is opening up a good 5-10 bike legnth lead over the field right before you dive into the corner.

Join a team. If you're the strongest guy you can have other guys attack to tire out would be chasers.

Races your strengths, but train your weaknesses.

If your TT is a big strength, try attacking early and going for a solo breakaway. I am assuming you are in Cat 5 or 4, and they may watch ride away if it is early in the race with the expectation that you will crack. Also, chase efforts are rarely organized so you stand a chance. This may not work if they all know who you are and have seen you win TTs and hilly races.

Or, do as DannoXYZ suggests and train your sprint so you can win by a variety of means. Even if you are a climber, it helps a lot to have a decent sprint.

this brought up a question, since crits are done by a time period pluss a number of laps, what happens if you lap the field before the time period is up?

Say the race is 1 hour plus 3 laps, if you break off the front right at the begining and then come up behind the feild and catch their draft for the rest of the race, do you win unless someone breaks off the front and laps you? or do you still have to complete the 3 laps after the hour is up, do you complete one less lap? Whats the deal?

also it seeps like if you completed a lap right in front of the time period, say 45 seconds before the +3 laps start, and the time runs out right before the field crosses the line, are they a lap ahead of you?