I'd say it depends on a lot of factors. Some road races are really just big crits, with the same kind of fighting for position and preponderance of fast-twitch bursts, favoring aggressive riders and not favoring timid riders. Other races might be "terrain specific" and no matter how much you want it, being a tough guy won't get you to the finish line first if you cannot get over the hill with the leaders. My experience is that a whole lot of people are either suited to one or the other type of race, and very few (but very special) riders are suited to both.

"Pacing" usually means that you have a specific pace strategy in mind for an event, and applies to time trials or triathlons, but not so much to either road races or crits. I guess Everest Challenge can be won or lost with pacing, but most road races (even hilly ones) don't really come down to pacing. If you cannot answer a stupidly hard attack at the bottom of the principal climb and get dropped, thinking you can negative-split the climb and "pace" your way back to the leaders, and succeed in doing so, then I'd say you belong in a higher category, or perhaps got lucky in that the leaders all went way beyond their means.

The most likely scenario is you won't see them again. Therefore, you cannot have a pacing "strategy". You simply have to answer the attacks, and then still make it to the top of the hill. You might even have to sprint for it after blowing your whole matchbook on all of those climbs and attacks.