Reading some of these makes me feel like just a "fast slower cyclist". The top end of the slow guys, but not close to the actual fast people.

350 into the 20min range......LOL. We're working on getting up to just 3min of that right now.

I've got some years to go.

You might surprise yourself; part of it is race craft. My power curve was backwards from what’s really useful in bike racing—awful sprint, low 1-2 minute power, avg 4-5 minute and then above average behind. I’d be there at end of a hard race with 10 guys left but couldn’t out-kick anyone. That’s why it comes down to accepting going for minor placing or throwing a haymaker to either win or finish 10th.

Yeah, I'm certainly making assumptions and generalizations. I don't know if trail is talking about his experience as a cat 4 or a domestic pro. So without any other knowledge whatsoever, assumptions and generalizations happen. I still maintain the most important part of a sprint is position, though, whether you have to go for a full-on brawl or not. That somehow led to some idea about all-or-nothing racing, which I'm still a bit incredulous of, but not everyone races the same way, clearly.

No, never raced in SoCal, but I've raced PRTs and junior, espoir, collegiate, and elite nationals lots of times. And internationally for a summer, too. And I very well understand people may not be in to chaos of a finale. But that's at the elite level. I wouldn't' tell a cat 4 to just sit up every time there's a field sprint, nor would I tell them to launch an attack with a lap to go in an all-out bid to win or lose.

My initial point, again, was that position is the most important element of sprinting. Even if you don't have huge watts, if you jump from second or third wheel you can pull a good result. That's what I tell newer racers and I think it's a vital component to learning how to race well, especially if you're not at the elite level. Once you're there, then clearly you've already best figured out how to do what you need to do.

Anyway, different strokes.

My power cure looks something like

5s - 1180w
10s - 1100w
20s - 890w
30s - 830w
1 min - 575w
5 min - 370w
10 min - 345w
20 min 330w
60 min 305w

I'm very much on the sprinter side of the curve at roughly 73-75 kg. Have won 4 sprint finishes in my very modest area of racing, and would likely get spit out the back, or not even make the final selection in legit areas.

If I were the OP, I'd focus on 30-120 second intervals but also find some aggressive world's rides that don't have 18 mph caps. I think that the OP will find that their best efforts under 30 seconds are going to be pure instinct and reacting to what's happening on the road vs targeting an effort while staring at their computer. Very hard to simulate that on your own doing intervals. Also, it's one thing to build up the left side of your power curve...it's a completely different thing to know how to use those efforts effectively.

FWIW...
I'm 80-81kg. and 53 years old.

Just completed a Sufferfest 12-week training plan and here are my results:

5 sec: +24.9% (1142w)
1 min: +9.5% (485w)
5 min: +14.2% (346w)
20 min: +9.3% (248w)

Clearly I have a problem with sustained effort (and the SF way of testing FTP is much different and I'll argue more difficult than a standard 20 min FTP test). Indeed, SF diagnosed this sustained effort weakness and the training plan was designed around improving it. However, the result was not only an increase in FTP but also a big gain in sprinting power (5sec effort). I did almost zero lifting during the 12 weeks.

Many of the workouts were as described in prior posts: high intensity with lots of rest between sets.

Don't know much about racing tactics (only done a few crits, road races and TT's) but I will confess I am alot more confident on my bike knowing I've built some power and have identified what kind of cyclist I am.

Good luck improving!
5 sec

Mine is as flat as the new Zwift course lol

lol. That is funny.

I have no top end sprint power but have a fairly high FTP. Not that I really train sprint power, but I've always been this way. My brother was a successful road racer on a Pro Conti team with a similar FTP as mine, but he was punchy as all get out. He could just lay down these huge bursts over and over and recover from it. The difference in our max power was like 400 watts. Even if I try I rarely see over 1000 watts for a second. He could hold that wattage for the duration of a sprint after repeated accelerations earlier. Differing physiology for sure.

The OP has good wattage at threshold. You just have to race to your strengths. You can train to get some of that top end power, but I doubt it will go up much.

I cannot even do even one rep of some of the high end workouts on Zwift because of my FTP.
Being 45 doesn’t help with the upper end stuff either

I'd agree with other posters. If you're racing road races and crits the 10 second-90 second power numbers are the most alarming. Your ftp is decent enough to keep you in hard races and crits, but around here you need crazy sub 1 minute power to get off the front , build a decent enough gap, and stay away.

Mine (for a decent cat 3 with no sprint) is something like this:
5s - 1100
20 s- 875
1 min-610
5 min-418
20 min-355
60 min-320

C'mon, man. How old are you guys? Really? I think it's good for us older chaps to understand how big the delta is between us and some of the under-40's.

age 51.5 and just shy of 8 months from having my heart literally cut open...…….

current pre-surgery
1s 900 1100
20s 640 680
1 min 445 530
5min 342 405
20min ?? 350
60min ?? 320

haven't gotten around to pushing long enough to know the true answer on last 2 and I have always sucked at short duration

62 year old, 74kg. Currently working on nothing but FTP, never been much on the aerobic side but trying to learn how to TT in my old age. Something to do. Today's numbers:

Pmax 1288
20s 863
1m 571
5m 316
20m 257

I was an OK road sprinter. If I were working on my Sprint I would do rolling accelerations & standing starts, with a lot of rest between. You are working on the max number not recovery. In a race I think the 20s to 1m power bucket is really important. But key is picking the right wheel,you have one job, decide who you are going to be on at the bell. I cared more about who than where (position) although one usually went with the other.