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Pro cycling has started to return to this type of road because it presents a different challenge in a stage race, but is also a nod to the heritage the major races have.
Maybe you have insider intel that makes this definitive, but it’s regularly mentioned in cycling media the recent gravel stages have something to do with the gravel market explosion.
snoops-
Correlation != causation
There's also been a recent cross over (excuse the pun) of 'cross racers to road. So how can we say it's not 'cross that's influencing GT stages? Apart from the fact I've already mentioned dirt stages in Grand Tours happening 10 years ago and whole races on unsealed roads happening since forever.
As an aside: My favourite bit so far is one of the fast Americans having 4+ people around him and he still has to yell at them to replace his bottles. Shows how good my missus is as a support crew. Fucking rookies.
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Race organisers have seen the coverage Strade Bianche, Tro Bro Leon, etc get, and want in on that action. They also realise that a) TTs are dull and no-one watches them and b) mountain top finishes are becoming less and less selective so they are looking at other ways to get the GC riders to race, i.e. short mountain stages and stages with gravel or cobbles.
hippy
andyp
Is it? Strade Bianche has been around for a while now, itself a spin off from Eroica, which was inspired by how pro races used to be long before the widespread use of tarmac for road surfaces.
Look back at photos from the major races in the post-war period and most of the mountain stages were run on unsealed roads. Pro cycling has started to return to this type of road because it presents a different challenge in a stage race, but is also a nod to the heritage the major races have.