Nicko71:
Yes, you can do it. You are wise in coming to terms with your natural talents. I can't sprint either. Guy like us stand the best chance of winning from short-medium breaks. Sure we can improve our sprint, and might actually win by sprinting sometimes, but going elbow to elbow against true sprinters, we are dead meat.
With 1 km to go, good luck. Nobody is going to let you get away with that short of a time to go. You never know though.
By far, the most critical aspect of succeeding this way is to get a gap as rapidly as possible. The less time you have, the faster your acceleration must be. If you get 30 meters slowly, one or two riders will hunt you down easily. Your acceleration needs to be brutally fast.
Practice 1 to 1.5 km efforts, starting off from a good roll to simulate the race before you attack, then launch a brutal all out acceleration, getting 30+ meters as fast as you possible can.
Once the gap has been established, settle into a sustained rythm, riding at least 1-2 mph or several km's faster that the pack will be riding when you attack. The instant the pack sees gap stick, the pace will wind up dramatically in order to rob you of victory.
These efforts will be hard work. Start off with 1-2 and build from there. Recover long between efforts, at least 10 minutes or until you feel well recovered for another effort. Rest as long as needed, the quality is what is important.
Good luck!!!
