Lance Armstrong comes from the flats of Texas, but he loves when the road goes vertical.

The four-time defending Tour de France champion will be more than happy this weekend. With the 2003 Tour lying in the balance, the roads are going straight up into the French Alps, and Armstrong is poised to vault into the race leader's yellow jersey.

	The path might be different, but the mountains are still Lance's territory.

"Saturday is the first test to see how everybody is," said Johan Bruyneel, director of Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team. "Lance is good; he's ready."

After a wild and wooly opening week of the three-week, 2,000-mile boxing match on wheels, Armstrong could grab the lead after stumbling out of the blocks last weekend in Paris.

The 31-year-old Texan admitted he was less than stellar in last weekend's kickoff. Armstrong's won the opening prologue twice and never finished worse than third since 1999, but he was an uncharacteristic seventh in the raucous start in Paris on July 5.

Then the next day, he crashed for the first time in the Tour since his dramatic comeback from cancer in 1999, a high-speed spill that sent podium favorite Levi Leipheimer packing for home with a cracked hip.

"I had some problems before the Tour that I didn't elaborate on that are not very important," said Armstrong, who finished safely Friday in 39th place with the main bunch behind Stage 6 winner Alessandro Petacchi. "Definitely at the prologue I wasn't sharp, but in light of the way I was feeling going up to the first day, I shouldn't be surprised."

But things are looking up for Armstrong in more ways than one.

	“	Lance (Armstrong) is the best climber in the world. Our job is to protect Lance as long as possible for him to do his job. We're feeling confident ”
		— U.S. Postal teammate George Hincapie

His nine-man U.S. Postal Service team roared to victory in Wednesday's team time trial stage, giving Armstrong a nice cushion going into the Tour's first appointment with the Alps.

Armstrong finished safely in the lead group Friday, and enters Saturday's 143-mile stage to Morzine just one second behind teammate and race leader Victor Hugo Peņa. The Colombian became the first South American to wear the yellow jersey, but will revert to his more familiar role as helper Saturday.

While Armstrong's "Blue Train" roared to victory, several key rivals lost vital ground. Italian climbing specialist Gilberto Simoni lost more than three minutes and 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich lost 43 seconds.

And starting Saturday, the Tour enters the mountains -- Armstrong's favorite hunting ground -- and his team says the four-time champion is more than up for the challenge.

"Lance is the best climber in the world," said teammate George Hincapie. "Our job is to protect Lance as long as possible for him to do his job. We're feeling confident."

Armstrong loves the steep centerstage when the world is watching. Millions of cycling fans will line the narrow and twisting mountain roads to cheer on their cycling idols, and millions more will tune in on television to watch the drama unfold.

En route to victory the past four Julys, Armstrong has always used the opening mountain stage as a springboard. The battlegrounds are cycling's sacred ground: Sestieres, Hautacam, Alpe d'Huez and La Mongie.

But this year's script will likely read a little different.

Saturday's first of three climbing stages finishes downhill. Armstrong will likely play the safe hand and follow the strong climbers over the 5,000-foot summit and roll into Morzine.

"It's not for us to attack, so maybe there will be a breakaway and they can make it over the climb and go for the win," said Bruyneel, who said riders to watch Ullrich and Gilberto Simoni. "There are a lot of strong climbers, and anyone who says this race is over is fooling themselves. We will let the race dictate our tactics. The team will work for Lance."

If he doesn't grab the yellow jersey there, Sunday's epic stage to Alpe d'Huez will provide another launching pad.

The stage hits the monstrous climb up Telegraphe then Galibier before hitting the famed 21 switchbacks of the painfully steep climb to Alpe d'Huez.

"The Alpe d'Huez stage is classic. If you can't make differences there, you don't deserve to win," Armstrong said.

If that wasn't enough, the Tour then climbs the torturous Col d'Izoard, a stark, barren pass that cyclists came to in the early 1900s when the 100-year-old Tour first hit the Alps.

Armstrong will have the help of his strong U.S. Postal team, loaded this year with lithe Spanish climbers to help tow Armstrong as far as they can up the steep roads. Armstrong takes over on the final assault to the summit when he turns on the afterburners and drops his rivals.

Armstrong said he won't be changing his style. When the going gets tough, Armstrong goes faster.

It's a strategy that's worked four years in a row. This weekend, the world will find out if it's going to work for a record-tying fifth time.

Andrew Hood is an American freelance journalist based in Spain and has covered every Tour since 1996.