PFORZHEIM, Germany - Lance Armstrong confidently headed into the first of several mountain stages on Saturday's eighth stage at the Tour de France.

Armstrong and other riders set off from the German town of Pforzheim for a hilly 231.5 kilometer (143.8 mile) trek ending in the French town of Gerardmer.

Home fans crowded around team buses before the pack set off, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jan Ullrich, Andreas Kloeden and other German cyclists. "Ulle! Ulle! Ulle!" the crowd chanted, before breaking out into cheers when 1997 Tour winner rolled past and waved.

Armstrong heads into the mountain stages with the leader's yellow jersey and a huge sense of relief.

"The race is about to start," he said.

Saturday's stage scales five hills, including the hardest ascent of the race so far - the Col de la Schlucht - a category 2 climb.

"I don't know the climb, only what I know on the paper," Armstrong said. "But I feel certain that my condition is good enough to follow some attacks. In fact, some attacks would be nice so that we don't have a field sprint again."

Category 1 climbs are far harder than anything Saturday has to offer. Tougher still are the non-classified climbs which follow, known in French as "Hors Categorie."

Armstrong will not have to wait long to test his mountain form as the first category 1 is at Le Ballon d'Alsace on Sunday.

The six-time champion avoided the mishaps that befell so many other riders during the rain-soaked first week of what he says will be his final Tour de France.

"There have not been any major crises," Armstrong said. "In fact I think it's been a pretty good week. These stages are always scary, you have to stay out of trouble. I'm glad to be one week down, two to go."

The last two sprint stages were especially treacherous, with riders flying into narrow turns and falling at breakneck speeds.

"No guys want to wake up in the morning and think you have two days, 460 kilometers (285.8 miles) with nothing but black skies," Armstrong said.

Australian Robbie McEwen won Friday's seventh stage, a 142-mile run from the eastern French town of Luneville to Karlsruhe in Germany, in a dash to the line, clocking 5 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds. He is fighting Tom Boonen of Belgium and Norway's Thor Hushovd for the coveted green jersey awarded to the best sprinter when the 23-day race ends on July 24.

A race doctor's report said 13 cyclists were treated Friday for injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to fractured teeth and multiple muscle strains.

Armstrong is in great position to extend his record for most Tour wins to seventh.

He holds a commanding lead over main rivals, Alexandre Vinokourov, Ullrich and Ivan Basso, and his eight teammates are healthy.

He conceded 19 seconds to Vinokourov on Thursday, enabling the Kazakhstan rider to close the gap to 62 seconds overall. Armstrong kept a close eye on "Vino" on Friday.

"We have to keep him in check. Vino's always aggressive. He's always ready to attack," Armstrong said. "He's a great rider and I think he's incredibly and especially motivated for this Tour."

Vinokourov, who missed last year's race because of injury, is third overall, 7 seconds behind Armstrong's Discovery Channel teammate George Hincapie. Team CSC rider Basso is ninth, 1:26 back, while 1997 Tour winner and five-time runner-up Ullrich is 13th, 1:36 behind.

The Texan said he feels much better than he did on last year's Tour, when he was trying to become the first competitor to win six times.

"In terms of the pressure ... nothing compared to last year," Armstrong said. "I'm a little relieved that I don't have that pressure of trying to win that sixth Tour that no one thought could be done. So this one feels different."

The stage victory was McEwen's second of this Tour and seventh of his career. Sweden's Magnus Backstedt was the runner-up, followed by Austria's Bernhard Eisel.

"Every now and then I think: 'You're 33 now and you're going to start slowing down.' It hasn't happened yet," McEwen said.

Boonen placed seventh Friday after crashing earlier in the stage, tearing his shorts and grazing his left buttock.

Large crowds turned out to welcome the race across the border into Germany.

"We expected a lot of people but that was just out of this world, the amount of people standing out there in the road," McEwen said. "We only had half the road to use because there was just people everywhere. It's nice but in a way it makes it a little bit dangerous."

AP-ES-07-09-05 0622EDT