GUERET, France (AP) – Move over sprinters, time for climbers to shine.

The charge for the Tour de France title intensifies Wednesday with the first mountain stage – a chance for five-time champion Lance Armstrong and other contenders to test their legs before mightier battles in the Pyrenees and Alps.

“It will be hard, especially if the race starts aggressively like it did today,” Armstrong said after Tuesday’s ninth stage.

Armstrong remained in sixth place overall, finishing 44th Tuesday behind stage winner Robbie McEwen of Australia. The 32-year-old Texan is 9 minutes, 35 seconds behind leader Thomas Voeckler of France.

Wednesday’s 147-mile trek through the Massif Central of central France is the longest of this Tour and has nine climbs, including the most difficult so far – 3 1/2-mile ascent to 5,243 feet, which gets steeper as it goes up.

“It’s going to be tough … up and down all day,” Armstrong said. “Unfortunately, it’s a stage we haven’t seen. It’s a hard day ahead.”

“The team is great and healthy,” he added. “Everyone’s recovered from their small crashes.”

Sprinters who have dominated the mostly flat early stages will struggle. Such speedsters include McEwen. Climbers and all-arounders like Armstrong will move to the fore – possibly offering an early look at how strong the main contenders are.

“The Tour starts now,” American Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate and rival of Armstrong’s, on Monday’s rest day. “The upcoming stages will really show who is here to win.”

The hilly 99 1/2-mile stage, the shortest this year except for time trial courses, started in Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat in central France, the hometown of retired Tour great Raymond Poulidor. He is loved by fans even though he never won the showcase race – finishing either second or third a record eight times between 1962 and 1976.

McEwen became the first rider to win two stages at this Tour. But when he set out Tuesday, he wasn’t even sure he’d make it to the finish. Banged up in a mass crash on Friday, he rode with a sore back and knee and said he started the day thinking, “I just hope I survive.”