Originally Posted by repechage

Maybe the new bike fit better? Better selection of gears? Humans can put out decent power for a sustained length of time but, not lots of reserve power, so better gear selection is very helpful.

If I was to do a competitive event again, I would want, tubulars, 11 cogs in back, dual pivot or disc brakes if allowed, "clipless" pedals, brake / shift levers. Probably choose SRAM, and I guess do w/o one cog.
In a friendly competitive club ride setting, dual pivot brakes, tubulars and brake shift levers. Reasoning, one needs to brake with the bunch, index shifting allows shifting under load and in full control.
In any ONE gear, a classic bike is effort equal, but in the dynamics of competition, there are other things.