Originally Posted by Dan333SP

Came here to say this.

The worst wrecks I've seen/been involved in were RRs, which is somewhat counter intuitive as a spectator like Tim would think. It's because crits tend to be a series of sprints between corners in a mostly single-file line (depending on the pace at the front) so crashes are most often one or two riders losing it in a corner and sliding off the course. The road race crashes I've been caught up in are almost always when someone attacks, there's an effort, and then the attacker is brought back and the main group bunches up in tight quarters on a straight road. That's when people start bumping hips, and when someone swipes a wheel and a rider goes down mid-pack, the people behind that rider have nowhere to go and it turns into a big pileup with more broken bikes and bodies.

Not saying the same thing can't happen in a crit when the pace slows and pack bunches, it just seems more common in the RRs I've done. When the pace goes down during a race and the pack bunches, I get real nervous and tend to either ride far to the outside of the group or try to get to the front ASAP.