I've only been in one race so far but I learned a ton very quickly. I stayed up front, and away from the middle/back. The 2 times I was consumed into that group things got hairy, and it was because of a few guys that just weren't comfortable in the group and on their bike. If you're going to be up front, you should be working with the people that are up there, you might be safer, but you'll use more energy being up there.
There weren't any significant moves being made that I couldn't shut down but you want to watch for them just in case, it really all came down to good positioning in the end and making your move at the right time. There was a serious crash in the last km towards the finish because people started jockeying for position for the sprint. Again, it doesn't matter where you finish, it just matters that you finish.