Careful guys, max lift is not achieved just before stall. The "max coefficient of lift" is reached but lift is also a factor of airspeed. Just remember the formula is CL*1/2 rho v sq. It is a dangerous thinking process to believe that lift is at a maximum. Lift is already in decline and drag is increasing dramatically. The one gain is that the thrust vector with high angles of attack is assisting the recovery with bootloads of downward component.
If it were solely to gain the best climb performance to outweigh the degradation, surely a speed closer to the best rate of climb (the speed where the excess of thrust available is at a maximum)i.e. an equivalent improved climb V2 speed depending on config, would be more advantageous. So in my opinion it is a trade-off (as in the final stages of a GPWS encounter) such that if ground contact eventually becomes unavoidable, the slowest possible groundspeed will be achieved thereby minimising the deceleration forces encountered by landing in the high street.
As I say just my thoughts only. I hope I never have to test my theory anyway.