Never lose sight of the fact that although the top-tier machines are available to the general cycling public they are tools for professional bike racers.
To fully appreciate the incremental performance improvement between a $2K and $10K race bike requires considerable cycling experience, and in particular racing experience.



A professional quality chef's knife is of little added value to one who doesn't have the knife skills and the technique required to maintain a performance cutting edge and efficiently/safely use the tool. One can say: "Gee, that's Sharp!" but producing piles of properly diced mirepoix and like-sized julienne takes commitment to technique, practice and kitchen time. Any tool performs as well as it's user's skills permit and great tools help the most skilled perform at the highest level.

Likewise a top-tier race bike can be appreciated as a fine quality machine in it's own right: "Gee, that's Light!" and operated by anyone w/ the cash to acquire it.
They are certainly a real pleasure to ride/own/enjoy.
The performance edge comes in the environment it was designed for: shoulder to shoulder in a tight peloton on pave', in a desperate >40mph sprint and at redline effort on brutal climbs.

Cyclists have a unique relationship w/ their machines being their motive power, ride what you like and better yet what you love.

-Bandera