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@adman
As you become more experienced you will learn to "know" where everyone is.
In the final dash to the line you should ALWAYS expect people to be drifting out and ALWAYS expect people to be coming over you. So in your case you should move out knowing that there is a chance a rider is coming over you and knowing that rider 3 is probably gonna want to come out. Anticipate this and make it part of your planned route to the line knowing that you might need to make changes to that plan.
The more you race the more you will be able to predict things. You'll learn how a riders body language changes before they make a move and what move happens before a change in direction happens.
If I was in your position in that dash to the line I would have been looking for the gap between rider 1 and 2 and accelerating for it before it was there because I would have predicted that gap to be there by the time I got there. That comes from years of racing and I do it often, safely and within the rules.
The point being, as you learn your craft watch what riders do all the time. You'll soon establish pattens and be able to predict things before they happen. Don't ever just watch the rider in front of you watch the riders ahead of him/her as this will give you more warning of what is about to happen. Watch the riders behind you too.
Here is a little exercise for you. Do this while racing until it becomes 2nd nature. Try to remember where every rider is in the bunch after just a quick glance over you shoulder. Visualise where they all are. Now look again. How many did you get right? How many have moved? How many did you miss altogether? If you do this often enough you'll soon be in a sprint and know instinctively where everyone is. But you got to train your brain to do it.