Patches will hold up fine, but it is a bit hard to get small enough patches. I had some ‘tip top’ ones which work, but other ones I’ve tried have needed to be torn in half. Personally I so rarely get punctures on the road bike that I’ve got a bit out of the habit of fixing them, although I always carry a kit in case I puncture more than one tube.
I use Continental GP4000 S, it is a bit of a racey tyre (and quite expensive). They are jolly nice to ride though. I just had the same thing happen to me, big tear (rode over a big sharp stone about 2 inches long), and the tyre was a goner, which is annoying, but the hole in the tube was a neat circular hole about 5mm wide, so I guess it isn’t surprising that the tyre took some damage too. It was still together enough to get me home, but had a bulge in it. Before that I hadn’t had a puncture in >2000 miles though.
Joe