Jeff Wigand wrote:
You need to remember that some of these teams these men are trying for are decided largely or entirely on season bests. So if you think you can get away and safely put the field away by running hard, then you do it. We saw it in Paris last year, we saw it a bit in Rome last month.
But if there are some real contenders in the field and they haven't fallen off early, then you taking up the job of the pacemaker in the later stages runs the risk that the times will end up being very quick and you may well end up fourth or fifth in a deep race. So now you're your country's number four or five man on time with limited opportunities to get into the top three and the standard of that top three is much higher thanks to your efforts.
So if you're already among the top fastest leading into a major championship, you have no interest in making it especially quick unless you can well confident of winning. If you're not, then give no help at all keeping the pace up, and kick like made so that no one approaches your season best.
Smart analysis^