Originally Posted by grolby

There's a lot of talk about attacking hard from 1k here, albeit not as much as there used to be, but against any remotely organized group (which is what you have at the WorldTour level) it's not likely to succeed. In a large bunch finish, there are too many big teams driving the pace really high to the finish. In a sprint from a small break, the racers are usually hyper-alert to attacks, going that early is usually going to get everyone jumping on your wheel and swarming you at the finish. Still, these are the scenarios in which a last kilometer attack actually are most likely to work in the WT. But from a full-sized and fully-organized, committed field? No way.

As already mentioned, it's not like it's super-common in our amateur races either. And what you think of as a last k attack might not be. A kilometer is a LONG way out for the kind of effort you typically need to make if it's going to stick. I've had a couple decent results in the last couple years by launching well before the sprint proper - once 4th, the other time 2nd. I think the longest one was maybe 800 meters out, the other one was more like 300 or so to go. Things these races had in common: small, chaotic fields of around 16 riders, a 1 or 2 rider break up the road and a challenging finish due to a steep climb (4th place) or lots of corners in the final 150m (2nd). And I didn't even get away clean when I got 4th - I launched really hard on the uphill on the backstretch, made it to the final corner where one guy caught me for 3rd. Heck I didn't get away clean for 2nd either, the field was breathing down my neck, but I was able to hold them off by cornering at lunatic speeds while taking better lines. The point being that it's hard to do even when everything is in your favor. The only time I can recall someone launching a real 1km attack and sticking it was the 2008 Philly Phlyer Circuit Race, Category D Div I, and that was with the help of a fairly steep exit ramp to use as a launch pad.