Prudhomme's reasoning:

“Kragh Andersen and Terpstra were already there last year, second and third,” Prudhomme said, according to L’Équipe. “It’s the riders who are the principal actors but if we don’t have any madness anymore in designing our race routes, then cycling will go to the wall.

“People complain that everything is sanitized, people complain about the monotony of certain races. We chose to do something out of the ordinary. The reactions that I have heard aren’t going in the same way as those of the riders. Since the finish, I’ve received numerous messages from people who never normally send them – all to tell me that we were in the right.”

I liked the change of route and Paris-Tours is no stranger to changes of terrain/finale. I'm also a big fan of gravel/cobble races, however, I can understand why many aren't. The gravel sectors were more mostly big rocks and many, including Gilbert and Greipel, punctured effectively ending their chances of victory. It was a nice idea but as many of ASO's ideas, it needs to be refined/reworked in order to work for all participants (teams, riders, spectators, etc.)