Every road bike I ever had had the shifters on the down tube. These are pro road bikes though. If you are up right you cut into the wind and slow down. You have to reach all the way down to shift. plus brakes are "hooded" no extensions.
What on earth are you talking about- can you show a photo?
Pro riders use integrated shifters just like anyone else. If pro riders were all using downtube shifters for some bizarre reason, half the lycra-crad amateur crowd would be doing the same because fashion is such a big deal in cycling. Do you really think that when those guys are absolutely hammering it, they're going to reach down to their knees to fiddle around with 1980s shifting tech?
Here are a load of shifter setups from recent TdF bikes. You can see the paddles built into the brake levers, or in one case there's electronic shift buttons glued to handlebar next to the stem.
https://road.cc/content/tech-news/226185-tour-tech-2017-shifters-pros-are-usingThe seat is a sliver. these are not comfort machines.
I'm fairly sure everyone here knows what a road saddle looks like. And they are called
saddles. Only non-riders refer to them as 'seats'. UCI weight rules have meant that for at least the past decade, the idea of having to desperately save weight on a road bike is no longer an issue. Some pros have ridden with metal weights glued to their top tubes to bring them into regulation weight.