Originally Posted by
Nicolo M.
A lot of information here...I watched one minute of the vid and, having seen enough, would offer these 3 suggestions:
1. Stage early to get a better starting spot, even if this means sacrificing a bit of warmup. Much easier to start at the front and drift back (AKA "surf") than the opposite.
2. Start assertively, safely working yourself up into the Top 5-10 ASAP.
3. Safely and assertively do whatever it takes to stay there (Top 5-10) until one lap to go.
Whatever happens after one-to-go is beyond the scope of your question...however come into the race with the mindset that your only goal is to assertively but safely get into the Top 5-10 and assertively but safely stay there, always remembering: "Nothing good happens at the back of a bike race." This is way easier said than done--the fitness and feel for what it takes to do this efficiently will come with repetition (= keep racing!). Get at it and good luck!
As above, I don't think staging early is a solution because it's not an actual racing skill. If you have the right skills, you don't need to get sweaty about staging for the majority of races.
I think the other two points are just so vague as to be meaningless. I have no doubt the OP would like to safely and assertively work his way into the top 5-10 and stay there (though I also disagree that hanging out in the front all the time is necessarily the right thing in a crit). Question is HOW. None of these things are skills, they're just goals.