I find that riding on the hoods does not give me sufficient control of the brake levers. Maybe my hands are smaller than they should be (although I wear a size M or L glove) but the levers feel too far away and I can only grab the top half of them. The feel of the braking is then pretty poor from that position and my peak braking power is certainly reduced. If I'm in heavy traffic, I want to be in the drops, or on the tops when I have cross levers.