Coming into the final week before a race, the bulk of your preparation should be done to keep your mind stress-free and relaxed. Given the importance of the next 7 days, you need to do everything you can to ensure your legs are at 100% come race day.
The calibration of the power meter is essential to have greater reliability and therefore train with the almost total certainty that the power is equal to that of previous workouts.
Bike races can be won by few hundred meters, a km or even by few centimetres! One of the techniques that riders use to win races on the line is the bike throw.
Let's think about the world of MTB: are strongest athletes that win only good uphill? Or do they also have a great technique in downhill?
Obviously in the MTB this aspect is more highlighted, but also in the road racing world affects performance; many times you can keep with the best guys uphill, but you lose them because they are better than you descending
Being able to sprint well at the end of a race is crucial and can be your biggest area of improvement. Whether you sprint for a race win or for a smaller result, having a good sprint sometimes can be what makes the difference between getting the result that you want or not. In saying this, it is important that you get to the finish of a race in order for your sprint to be of any value.