Originally Posted by Racer Ex

I'd wholly disagree. If you've got real horsepower and enough guys working to keep the speed up, the pack can at best match your speed and that's it. Most of my races finish with the break staying away. Sometimes the break is just me. I watched the entire Toyota United team try to chase down Moninger in a crit, he ended up lapping them.

Sitting on a bridge that you think has a shot of making it up is a good move. You're delivering a set of fresh legs for your team and providing at least the same odds for your team to win, there's really no downside. Exception would be if you're supposed to be sheltering your sprinter.

It's likely that when the pack saw a large group heading up to the break, that's when they started chasing. You being in it wasn't any great trigger, unless you're the 800 pound gorilla in the field.