Every race is different. How Lance won his WC is pretty much irrelevant as is how Boonen won a race like any classic when compared to riding in a crit. Choosing a hilly 260km plus road race and suggesting that the selection a course like that makes is somehow comparable to the selection a flat 1 mile rectangle will make is, well, let's just say it's a poor analogy.

Sitting in and sprinting is a fairly standard strategy in racing, especially in criteriums. It's part of racing.