I also kind of wonder what the hold-up is on a flatbar. If you just like being able to sit "heads up", most drop-bar bikes are very comfortable on the hoods, and you can even get hood-mounted brake levers to augment the aero levers. Many cyclocross bikes I've looked at come with hood levers. They offer more hand positions and the ability to tuck into a more aerodynamic and comfortable position, when really pedaling hard.
When I saw the Century, I wrote it off as a sort of hybrid, but it was a little more "road" than most I'd seen.