Originally Posted by cosmo_the_third

At any rate, a two-man sprint is one of the most tactically challenging situations in bike racing (which is why match sprints on the track are so popular), and they generally play out at lower speeds. Thus, two-man breaks almost never win by less than a few minutes - any hesitation and a close field will catch them. Look at Chavanel/Horner at Stage 10 of this year's TdF, or O'Grady/Geslin on Stage 6 in 2003. Last year's Paris Tours winner, Erik Dekker, dispatched his companion over a k before the line, probably knowing that a sprint between the two of them would have only let the field catch up.