You have more options in the higher categories. Like Eric said, tactics other than "wait until the end and sprint" have a better chance of working.
Especially if you can consistently place in the top 10, then you are probably strong enough to do well in the 3s and have a good chance of actually winning.
I won both of my 4s races in the last k though, so turns out that's all I had going for me. I don't have the power to sustain a break (I've tried), and I'm a crappy sprinter so I'm just packfill now.
word. I won 5 and 4 events in the sprint. as a 3 my sprint sucked so i worked hard on threshold development. I'm not winning races now, but I'm at the pointy end of many/most of the area's less hilly races.
I guess I'm just agreeing with you here... different skillsets are advantageous at different racing levels.