Originally Posted by
flats
Maybe this should be in the professional forum, but I think it is an interesting discussion for amateur racing too.
Why don't we see more 1km or even 1 mile fliers on flattish stages of world tour stage races? For certain types of riders in amateur racing, and also in one-day professional racing, late attacks seem to work well. Why doesn't this translate over to stage races?
Most of the answers seem to be similar, and I agree. Sprinters' trains, at full bore, are almost full on sprints on their own. When a train uses at least 2 guys in 800m to get the sprinter to the 150-200m mark you know they're not holding anything back.
The better leadout men are good sprinters themselves. There are situations where the leadout man went so hard that the sprinter couldn't get around him, or the sprinter let a gap go because he wanted the leadout man to win. Or the leadout man sits up with 20m to go, puts both hands up in the air, and still gets 9th in the stage. Etc.
There's a question of motivation as well.
Also, a stage race is a bit diluted in that there are teams/individuals going for particular goals. So a Froome/Sky won't go absolutely bonkers to try and get away in the last km, which, if you thnk about it, is the only way a Froome/similar will win a flatter stage. Instead they're just waiting for the hilly stuff. Likewise the sprint teams (no GC rider) know that they only have this or that stage for a chance to win. They save it for "their" days.
It makes winning outside of your specialty stage very hard. The sprint teams are desperate to keep things under control in the flatter stages and therefore the last km flyers don't work very often.
If you want to see a nutty sprint just watch a non-trade team race, or one where everyone thinks they have a chance - the World Championships. It's totally nutty because everyone and everyone is thinking, "Okay, if I can win this then I just made my career."