Gravel riding opens up a lot more area around here. I have to ride an hour to get to a mountain road that isn't slightly terrifying to ride up because of traffic if I want pavement. On gravel, there is a mountain right behind my house.

I don't know if the revival of big tire road bikes came before gravel or not, I think it did. But it doesn't really matter, we're here now and it's good.
I agree with the people that say a lot of us have stopped worrying about what the pro road racers do, it's not relevant to me and hasn't been for over 20 years. I don't really want to ride with the riders that find it relevant.