I'm guessing alanbike has the essense of it. Road bikes have racer-only prices today, and if that's not for you, the hybrids over in that corner come in pink too.

I would also guess that climbing would be easier with a shorter toptube.

On the other hand, there are longer seatposts today, and smaller frames are lighter, and it seems as though pros have a ton of seatpost showing, and so most tend to be going with smaller frames. Its just strange that fitting has changed so much.