Three of Lance Armstrong's US Postal Service team-mates will bolster the field for the Bermuda's biggest cycling event of the year next month.

George Hincapie, Tyler Hamilton and Dylan Casey will form one of the most formidable cycling teams ever to have competed on the Island in the Conyers, Dill & Pearman Grand Prix.

Hincapie and Hamilton both rode in the Tour de France, helping team-mate Armstrong to his third successive victory. And Casey is considered one of the favourites to win the overall title in the Bermuda event.

US cycling powerhouse Saturn will also send strong men's and women's teams and Bermuda's own Kris Hedges, who is enjoying a tremendous year, will also compete with a full complement of team-mates from his US team, Snow Valley.

Home favourites Melanie Claude and Julia Hawley will also be teaming up with three riders from Canada and the US to form a strong women's team.

The event is scheduled for September 20-24, and will include a six-mile time trial, a 100-kilometre road race and two criteriums.

One major change to this year's Grand Prix is that the showpiece event, the Classic Criterium on Front Street, will now be raced on a Friday night instead of a Thursday.

And the crowd-pulling, 45-minute event will now be part of the Grand Prix - which will comprise four stages instead of three - and so will no longer be a separate entity.

Hincapie has raced before in the Grand Prix, but the fact he will have team-mates to help him may mean that Bermuda will see the best of him this time, according to national cycling coach and event organiser Greg Hopkins.

"In the past, Hincapie has come on his own and even though he's one of the best riders in the world, there's only so much one guy can do when he's up against teams of four riders from Shaklee, Saturn and Navigators," said Hopkins.

"With three people here, US Postal are likely to really go for it. We're really excited that Tyler Hamilton will be here, he's become known as Lance Armstrong's right-hand man."

Hopkins added that the third US Postal rider, Dylan Casey, had been tipped as a good bet to win the Grand Prix by Hincapie. The 28-year-old Hincapie has been as impressive as ever this season and apart from his efforts in France, he also became the first American to win the Ghent-Wevelgem race in Belgium in April.

Bermuda is likely to be one of Hamilton's last events in US Postal colours. He will move at the end of the year to CSC Tiscali, where he will team up with another top Tour de France rider, Laurent Jalabert.

The Classic Criterium's move to Friday night, should mean more people watching. And with the event now part of the Grand Prix, Hopkins felt there would be more at stake for the riders in the showcase event.

"The effect will be that the race will be much more important to the whole field," said Hopkins. "Anybody who has desires on winning the overall event won't be able to relax and let someone else go for it, now the Classic forms part of the Grand Prix."

The home crowd will no longer be able to cheer on the now-retired Elliot Hubbard. Hubbard left big boots to fill, but Hedges has risen to the challenge to the extent that he can be considered a contender to take the honours on Front Street.

"I thought Elliot would take a long time to replace but I feel that Kris Hedges has come on in leaps and bounds and he has taken on the mantle that Elliot put down," said Hopkins.

"I'm hoping that the Snow Valley team will come here to ride for Kris and I'd be surprised if that was not their intention, particularly in the Friday night showcase event.

"Kris's role is to ride for the two team leaders, but I don't think Bermuda is one of Snow Valley's priorities.

"I would not be surprised if competing in front of a hometown crowd brought something special out of Kris. I know there will be tremendous pressure on him, but at the World B Championships in China, he was under all sorts of pressure and came through it really well."

On that occasion, Hedges just missed out on a medal, as he finished fourth in an excruciating road race.

Leading the Saturn team will be veteran Eric Wohlberg, the Canadian time trial champion, who the CD&P Grand Prix overall two years ago.

The 35-year-old has enjoyed continuous success on the pro circuit in North America and his 20th place in the time trial event at the Sydney Olympics last year proved he can compete with the world's best.

Besides CD&P, supporting sponsors have helped with the cost of flying in teams, including Butterfield & Vallis (Snow Valley), Cellular One (Intersports), Butterfield Direct (Saturn teams) and TeleBermuda (riders who will team up with Claude and Hawley).