I wouldn't say the Lightning is a better climber than a Bacchetta,
but it may be so for some riders.

I think the B is certainly faster the rest of the time, though.
Witness my personal experience on RAIN (www.rainride.org) for 2005
(I didn't get to ride it for 2006).

On much fewer base miles than I usually have, I rode the 2005 ride
with my friend Larry. Larry was on his Lightning R-84. Larry and I
ride together often (when I'm riding often, anyway), and we're
pretty evenly matched when that's the case. He was certainly
stronger leading up to that day.

However, in part because my Strada has better aerodynamics, >I< was
the one pulling most of the time. Fifteen miles from the end (at
about mile 145), my right shifter broke, meaning that I could not
downshift the rear, and was stuck using my 17T rear cog. Since I
had the triple chainrings, I opted to continue. A short while
later, I forgot I couldn't downshift and shifted to the 15T cog.
The one "hill" in that stretch of ride is about 5%, and about 1/4
mile. As I got to the top of it, I looked for Larry, and found him
just over two-thirds up the hill.

At the end of the ride, there is a sign indicating 200 meters left.
I sprinted from that sign to the finish line, and beat Larry by
almost 100 meters.

When Larry's R-84 frame broke (for the second or third time), he
chose to buy a Bacchetta Corsa.