By moving left, you’re avoiding piling into (i.e., hurting) someone in front of you, accepting the risk that someone behind may go down as a result of your actions.
Go left…the worst that could happen is you cause a further crash by doing so (though the person behind may also be able to move out of danger).
Protect your own front wheel and hope others are doing the same.
Thought this would be the answer. Thanks.
Limited experience here but from the one major crash I had whilst racing, I had a split second decision to make as a rider slid out in front of me (and a peloton of about 60 riders doing 25-30mph slightly down hill) I had the option to bail out onto the grass at the side of the track or do something else. At around 30mph, I was pretty certain the grass option (we aren’t talking a super smooth lawn here) would have meant a heavy crash (albeit not on concrete), so I went for option 2. Option two involved me trying to bunny hop the front wheel of the bike on the deck as it slipped across in front of me, option 2 I thought at least gave me some chance of avoiding a smash…
How wrong I was… I don’t really remember too much, I was on the deck for at least a minute or two before getting back on the bike (concussed (not aware at the time), road rash, broken bike bits etc.
So to my point, even in a split second which I guess comes with experience you surely have to know what is your “best out”. That time it would have been the grass, I guess maybe you could think about the circuit and the biggest potential for drama in the vain hope this might help during the race.