of course the Moser/ Saronni era is the most obvious example, but it always has been like this, that routes are made with the local favorites in mind. I think of the Vuelta's in the '10, lot of hill top finishes for Rodriques, Valverde, ect. and only 1 time trail. The tour reduduces the number of time trail kilometers with Bardet and Pinot in mind recently (ok, and tv audience that doesn't seems to like time trail). Well, there are many examples in cycling history (Tour de Suisse for Cancellara). The same for the number of sprint stages. Normally the giro is a lot hillier than the tour, but Cippo and Petachi got a lot of sprint stages in there best period.
However, the range in which grand tours has been more or less suitable for climbers, or punchers or sprinters is limited. You can see trends over time (more mountain top finishes, less completely flat stages and reduced amount of time trails is the current trend), but in my opinion the routes between the years are not super completely different. Number of HC, 1st and 2nd category climbs always are between 20-25. The number of HC's around 6-7, ect. Minimum 5-6 really flat stages. Normally 2-3 stages in the alps and Pyrenees in the tour for example. It's not that one year there is only 1 mountain top finish, but 12 murito stages and the next year 3 50 kilometer time trails and another year 9 mountain top finishes 1st or HC.
So, in most cases we are talking in nuance differences, to please the local favorite instead of tailor made routes.