also disagree that the 4s in CO is just for sprinters.

in the distinct different road events we have here, theres already a number of specialists, we have 2-3 really good crit guys (who are sprinters) 2-3 climbers (who dominate the hill climbs and the road races with longer climbs in them, and the road racer/all arounders, like me. granted the top 15 or so in most of the races have a lot of the same names, but they shuffle differently depending on the characteristics of the event. and its a challenge to figure out how to use a course to your strengths.

i smoked our cat 4 crit champ in an uphill RR finish last month, but i'll never take him on a straight away, our best climber cant TT... here anyway, 4 is a really large wide field with everything from bozos to formidable talents working thier way up. but most of the talents are eager to earn it with points. theyre not sandbagging, theyre having fun and racing against other strong people and one by one theyre moving up based on wins and points.