Road and gravel cycling shoes look similar at a glance but are built around different assumptions: a road shoe assumes you never leave the pedal, while a gravel shoe assumes you sometimes will. That single difference shapes the sole, the outsole tread, the upper, and even how stiff the shoe needs to be.
The clearest difference is the outsole. Road shoes like UDOG's Cento and Cima use a smooth, minimal-tread carbon sole because their only job is transferring power to a pedal you're always clipped into. Gravel shoes, like Distanza, add a rubber outsole with real tread pattern and lugs, because gravel riding involves walking on loose surfaces, hike-a-bike sections, and occasional gas-station stops that a slick road sole handles badly, both for grip and for the sole's own durability.
Stiffness follows a similar logic but isn't as far apart as most riders assume. A road shoe is optimized purely for power transfer, so a very stiff carbon sole with no flex is close to ideal. A gravel shoe still wants a stiff sole for efficient pedalling, but a small amount of flex through the forefoot makes walking on uneven ground meaningfully more comfortable — which is why Distanza's carbon-reinforced nylon sole trades a small amount of outright rigidity for that walkability, rather than going with a full carbon layup like Cento.
The upper and closure differ too. Road shoes tend to fit lower-volume and more precisely, since the goal is a locked-in, race-ready fit with minimal material. Gravel shoes typically run a slightly roomier toe box and more protection around the front of the shoe — Distanza's rubberized toe cap exists specifically because gravel terrain throws rocks and roots at your feet in a way road riding simply doesn't.
Cleat compatibility is the other practical difference. Road shoes are built exclusively around 3-bolt road cleats (SPD-SL or Look-style), locking you into one pedal system. Gravel shoes are almost always 2-bolt (SPD-style), which is also what most mountain bike pedals use — useful if you already own MTB pedals, or if you want a shoe you can genuinely walk in without feeling like you're balancing on two plastic tabs.
Which one you need comes down to where you actually ride, not which one sounds more capable. A rider doing exclusively paved group rides and racing gains nothing from gravel tread and loses a small amount of stiffness for no benefit. A rider mixing pavement, fire roads, and singletrack loses real comfort and durability by forcing a road shoe into that terrain. Riders who genuinely split their time between both are usually better served by owning one gravel shoe than trying to make a road shoe do double duty.