The US Postal team are confident they will deliver a gift-wrapped fifth victory for their leader Lance Armstrong in the Centenary running of the Tour de France which gets underway on Saturday.

Armstrong, whose sequence of wins began in 1999 after he won his battle with life-threatening cancer, is bidding to become the fifth man to win five Tours but only the second after Spanish legend Miguel Indurain to do so in consecutive years.

And the postmen are confident that they can again deliver the final yellow jersey to the 31-year-old Texan on July 27 at the traditional finishing point on the Champs Elysees.

While Armstrong's record is indeed remarkable he would be the first to thank his team-mates for helping him to win four editions of the race traditionally considered the most gruelling event in world sport.

Another American, George Hincapie, who has accompanied him on all four of his wins, will be alongside the Texan again while Spain's Roberto Heras, a veteran of three of Armstrong's wins, will also be at the shoulder of his team leader, notably in the mountains.

Alongside Armstrong, Heras, Hincapie and Landis are Russian Viatcheslav Ekimov, Spain's Manuel Beltran and Jose Luis Rubiera, Colombia's Victor Hugo Pena and Pavel Padrnos of the Czech Republic.

Beltran is the only man not in last year's team - he replaces Benoit Joachim of Luxembourg.

Since Armstrong arrived in France from his seasonal home in Gerona, Spain, the US Postal team have been seen on the roads of northern France near Compiegne as they prepare for the 90th running of the famous race that began in 1903.

Today's prologue of the Tour will begin in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

And if the US Postal team live up to their boast then they will be riding together once more in the capital - this time in victory formation on the Champs Elysees - when the famous race is concluded on July 27.

Updated: 11:05 Saturday, July 05, 2003