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LE-PUY-EN-VELAY, France—The Tour de France is usually more ruthless in beating the world’s best cyclists into submission. By the third week of the race, the combination of pace, heat, and lung-busting climbs tends to break all of the contenders but one—and that one hardman tends to cruise to Paris.
But as the 2017 edition heads into its final week, the planet’s most famous bike race is faced with an unusual situation: the Tour de France is suddenly competitive. More competitive, in fact, than it has ever been at this…