SAINT-DIZIER, France (AP) – Lance Armstrong’s team won a time trial Wednesday, putting him in second place and in good position for another Tour de France title as he approaches the punishing Alps.

Cycling’s premier event began in earnest with the team time trial, and Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service squad won the event for the first time.

The Texan advanced from 12th place, and the victory in the 43-mile leg clearly strengthened his standing as he bids for a record-tying fifth straight championship.

“I’d never won this discipline before,” Armstrong said. “It was quite a hard course, with the wind – lots of wind. … It’s a very, very hard discipline.”

This was U.S. Postal’s first win on this Tour. The results in the team time trial, in which cyclists race against the clock, left U.S. Postal with the top eight finishers overall.

Armstrong’s teammate, Victor Hugo Pena, claimed the yellow jersey as overall leader. He is the first Colombian to wear the jersey in the Tour’s 100-year history.

“Sure, I’ll be the one wearing the yellow jersey,” Pena told French TV. “But this is a victory for the team. It’s one of the best teams that’s ever existed in the world.”

Pena’s total time is 13:44:44, with Armstrong one second behind. The next six spots in the overall standings belong to U.S. Postal riders: Viatcheslav Ekimov, George Hincapie, Jose Luis Rubiera, Roberto Heras, Pavel Padrnos and Floyd Landis.

U.S. Postal, wearing tear drop-shaped helmets and riding aerodynamic bikes to go faster, won in 1 hour, 18 minutes, 27 seconds in a race that began in Joinville on a hot, sunny day.

The squad holds a lead of 1:30 over the second-placed ONCE team and 2:09 over Bianchi, with results based on the top three times of each team. Both squads have riders who could threaten Armstrong.

“Today is a great day for us,” Hincapie said.

“It took us four years to win.”

In 2002, U.S. Postal was second in the team time trial, 16 seconds behind ONCE.

“Last year, and in previous years, we didn’t win the time trial, and it was a really unhappy feeling at the dinner table,” Armstrong said. “We were asking ourselves why we couldn’t do it, so this time we just said, “Come on, let’s do it, we’ve got to do this.’ I think it will be a happy dinner table tonight.”

Armstrong wanted to use the time trial to build a lead over his competitors before the Tour heads into the Alps on Saturday. Armstrong, who excels in the mountains, is aiming to match Spanish great Miguel Indurain’s record of five straight wins.

“This is simply the proof that when he wants to be, Armstrong can also be the best teammate in the world,” Pena said.

After the time trial, 1997 Tour winner and potential challenger Jan Ullrich of Bianchi was 12th overall, 38 seconds behind Armstrong.

Two other key rivals, ONCE’s Joseba Beloki and Telekom’s Santiago Botero, were ninth and 29th overall.

In the time trial, individual racers get their team’s time. That’s a big disadvantage for cyclists on weak squads.

“It’s either a gift or a curse, as I always say,” Armstrong said. “I’ll take the gift.”

AP-ES-07-09-03 1331EDT