This is the last major race in France, a .Pro race longer than 210 km (which, like any race whose name starts with Paris, doesn't start from Paris, but in this case from Chartres), with a first part (2/3^rd^) going through flat countryside and forests, and a last 3^rd^ that climbs up and down the Loire valley sides and takes a few gravel/stone paths across the vineyards.
Video summary of last year's (muddy) race and the Lidl-Trek vs Visma fights, mostly in French
The race should be dry this year (not a raindrop in days). So the paths should look like in 2023: 
The final has been modified a bit this year. The long final avenue looked nice with its tree cover, I don't know about the new finish line, but it shortens a bit the distance of pure flat before the line (there is still a bit more than 10 km of flat roads after the little climbs and the paths).
Unfortunately, Paris–Tours suffers from the occurrence on the same week-end of Il Lombardia and this weird Gravel World Championship without gravel. The first of those is for climbers, so there shouldn't be real competition for riders, but I see that Alaphilippe (Tudor) and Grégoire (FDJ) are announced in Lombardia on Saturday, whereas Paris–Tours would suit them much better. And Pidcock is supposed to go to the 'gravel' race on Sunday.
By the way, it will be Arnaud Démare's last professional race.
Personally, I hope to see Albert Withen Philipsen do well - he's really impressed me this fall, and he'd clearly in great shape. I think he's also been junior world champion in gravel, and almost everything else, so the gravel sections should not pose much risk for him.
He may, he may. Without even accounting for punctures and crashes, the race looks very open: there isn't someone or a few riders above the others, but many guys who can be strong. It is like there is no clear favourite(s), but only (numerous) outsiders:
BTW, Gaudu's return to competition was short-lived. He wasn't put on the list for the Tour of Emilia but on the smaller Italian race next day, where he withdrew or was stopped before the end; his presence on a later small Italian race was cancelled; and he isn't listed on any race any more. The guy has ridden 2 or 3 good days in February in Oman, then 2 or 3 good days in August in Spain, and the rest was awful; that's a peculiar season.
PS: I probably won't watch Lombardia, and won't open a thread, so if you feel like opening one, be ~~my~~ your guest 😉
Baffling tactics from Lapeira and Gruel in the final km.
But a fine victory by Trentin, and a fine ride and result by Albert Philipsen.
A long national tradition of being dipsticks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2C3kn051AI
PS: Those were the same two teams (FDJ & AG2R), now that I think of it!
One thing I would like to add, because I read many people putting 90% of the blame (or more) on Lapeira because they say he was the better sprinter.
Lapeira indeed scored a number of victories, while Gruel only got 1 on the Route d'Occitanie. But:
So, of course Gruel is not a top sprinter, but, given an equal level of freshness, he has his chances and probably more than his chances against a non-sprinter (or puncher-sprinter with a strong emphasis on puncher) like Lapeira.
I agree, it looked a little stupid but sometimes you have to risk losing everything to win. This time the gamble didn't pay off, but maybe next time it will.