After 16 years of Mountain bikes- Mountain Tandems- And Lightweight MTB's set up for the road to get my time for 100 milers down to something respectable- I gave in last year and bought a road bike. First thing I did was to work out where the bars should be as after about 25miles- I was running into neck problems. Raised the bars to about level with the saddle and I presume that I cured all the neck problems in one foul swoop.

Then I got the Boreas- Different geometry and the bars were 4" below the saddle. First thing I did was to flip the stem as I wanted to ride it and not wait for a new raised stem to come in. It must have been the geometry of the bike because the bars were still well below the saddle (Still at least 2.5") The bike was really comfortable. Rode it like that for a month and the brain started working and I flipped the stem back for a 30 mile ride. No "EXTRA" discomfort but the ride was faster.

Now I mostly ride on the hoods. To give myself a break in hand position- I might ride on the flats but not for long. The only time I get into the drops is into a headwind or Up the steep parts of some hills. In other words- I have a similar position to a Flat bar bike with Bar ends fitted.
Now as to raising the bars to get a more comfortable position- It was not necessary for me at all. Those bars went down a couple of weeks ago and they are staying down. Without doing anything except ride the Bike- My neck problem stopped existing.