well i don't want to jump into the nice argument here, but don't most TdF stages end up around 40 km/h avg? (50 for TTs)

anyway, i was happy to find out last thursday that while races do obviously have a faster pace, you don't need to be able to average 25 mph by yourself to hang on.

i can at best average 20 mph over shorter distances (it's hilly out here, what can i say?), but was able to hang on in the (4/5) crit and end up with an average speed of 38 km/h. yes it was harder than my normal training rides, but i lived and never got dropped. (and yes i know that's a "slow" crit, but like i said we have hills out here)

a lot of it is about drafting, don't let race speeds scare you too much. my $0.02.