Thursday, July 13 Armstrong ready for Pyrénées climb
	By Andrew Hood ABC Sports Online DAX, France -- The appetizers are over and the main course starts Monday in the Tour de France, but it won't be to everyone's liking. Monday's 10th stage will be brutal: four gut-busting climbs, terrifying ascents and horrible weather to match the sense of gloom among the peloton.     Marco Pantani is perhaps the strongest climber at the Tour. While some riders are chomping at the bit to get to the mountains, others are dreading it. Expect the overall standings to turn upside down. Riders that have been floating to the top of the standings thanks to strong time trial rides or good luck of being in breaks that stayed away will go backwards, while the skinny mountain goats will dance their way up the general classification as fast as they make their way up the steep cols. For defending champion Lance Armstrong and the rest of the top riders, the "real" Tour de France begins tomorrow. Sure, there's been exciting breakaways and fresh faces to liven up the opening nine stages and 900 miles of racing in cycling's most important event, but it's on Monday's epic four-climb stage high in the Pyrénées where the real fireworks begin. Come Monday night, the world will know if Armstrong has a chance to repeat his dramatic victory from last year. "For me, the Tour de France begins Monday," said Armstrong, now 16th overall, 5:54 behind race leader Alberto Elli. "Everything will be a lot clearer Monday night. Until then, I've been keeping my head low and staying out of trouble." Monday's 205-kilometer (127-mile) 10th stage features some of the steepest climbs Armstrong will face in this year's Tour. Three climbs come early, including the mythical Col d'Aubisique and the Col du Soulor, where Armstrong had a training accident in May. The gut-busting final 13k (8-mile) climb up to Hautacam, with an average grade of 7.9-percent, will separate the contenders from the pretenders. "I don't know how well I will climb, but I think the form I had in June will still be there," Armstrong said after finishing safely with the main bunch Sunday. "Everything has been perfect so far. We've had a strong presence in the peloton and nothing's gone wrong. I feel confident for the mountains." Weather looking bad While it was sunny and warm at the finish of Sunday's stage in Dax, dark clouds broiled over the Pyrénées, looming to the south. Forecasts for Monday call for rain, strong winds, fog and even a chance of snow on the highest cols. It will be a punishing day. "Hautacam is not a stage where the Tour will be won, but it is a stage where the Tour can be lost," said Johan Bruyneel, the directeur sportif of Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team. "If someone loses a lot of time on Hautacam, they will have a hard time to get it back." Some riders love the cold miserable weather, but most of those are Belgians who shine in the Spring Classics. Most climbers thrive in the heat. It will be interesting to see who will not panic when the weather turns bad. Pantini the main threat The stage has the makings of a classic. Last year Armstrong had a lead of more than two minutes going into the first mountain stages. This year, 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich, Frenchman Laurent Jalabert and Armstrong are within one minute of each other. Another half-dozen strong riders are still within striking distance. Everyone agrees, however, that the man to watch is Italian Marco Pantani, winner of the 1998 Tour. When it comes to the steepest mountains, Pantani is the most dangerous attacking rider in professional cycling. "Pantani is now the guy to worry about," Bruyneel said. "He is more than five minutes back of Armstrong so he has to attack." Pantani is sitting quietly in 86th overall, 5:06 behind Armstrong. Pantani was in a similar position in 1998 - 5:04 behind rival Ullrich -- when he made attack after attack in every mountain stage, eventually taking more than eight minutes against Ullrich on a cold, rainy miserable day in the Alps en route to winning the 1998 title. But Pantani is not without his problems. Dogged by doping allegations, he only returned to racing in May after nearly a year off the bike to compete in the Giro d'Italia. His overall fitness remains a question mark. "Pantani will be one of our top enemies. Everyone is wondering where is he in terms of fitness. He hasn't raced the bike a lot, but we saw in the Giro he is still dangerous. At Hautacam we will see how Pantani is," Bruyneel said. Posties ready to rumble Armstrong's U.S. Postal team is ready for the fight. The team is fresher going into the mountains than last year because they haven't had to fight to protect Armstrong's lead in the early going. "I felt good in the flats and I've felt good these first days. I hope to make the transition to the mountains OK," said Kevin Livingston, one of Armstrong's top lieutenants in the mountains. "I think we're ready and I think Lance is strong so I hope we have a good day tomorrow." Tyler Hamilton, another one of Armstrong's best allies in the mountain stages, and Viatcheslav Ekimov went down in a spill late in Sunday's stage, but neither were seriously injured. "I fell and bruised a few ribs. No road rash. I landed on bikes and bodies. It was one of those crazy crashes. We're going 55 kph and then everyone locks up in front of you and there's nothing you can do. You go flying. Luckily I got up quick enough and my teammate helped me get up to the peloton," Hamilton said. Armstrong's coach Chris Carmichael was beaming before the start of Sunday's stage. "I think Lance is going to win the Tour. Monday will show a lot, but I think he will be fine," Carmichael said. "His preparation has been perfect. He's done everything he needs to do. Now everyone will see how fit he is." Sunday's stage With all the hype leading up to Monday's showdown in the Pyrénées, nearly everyone forgot about Sunday's ninth stage. Everyone, that is, except Italian Paolo Bettini. The 181k stage from Agen to Dax across the flat heartland of southwestern France started slow and ended fast. The sprint teams were hungry to win because this might be their last chance for some time. Several early breakaway attempts were checked by the strongest sprint teams. Nineteen riders tried to escape early, including Hamilton and Cedric Vasseur from U.S. Postal, but they were brought back. Eighteen more riders, including the overall leader Alberto Elli, tried to get away at 64k. Again, after a few kilometers out front, the sprint teams brought them back. Bettini pulled away with two other riders at the day's lone rated climb, a Category 4 affair late in the race. The peloton gobbled them up in the final few hundred meters, but not before Bettini could squirt across the line the winner to give Mapei its third stage-win in this year's Tour. "This was the kind of break I was looking to get into," Bettini said, also a winner at this year's Liege-Bastogne-Liege. "Winning at Liege was special. I always wanted to win there, but to win a Tour stage is special as well."		ALSO SEE Bettini wins Tour de France's 9th stage What they're saying as they head to the mountains Stage Nine results