GHENT, Belgium—Former world champion Tom Boonen gets another chance to win his first Tour de France sprint in two years when the third stage takes the peloton over 236.5 km from Waregem to Compiegne on Tuesday.
The Belgian rider saw victory slip from his grasp in Monday's second stage when he was pipped to the line by Quick Step team mate and compatriot Gert Steegmans in Ghent in his home country.
On Sunday, he was beaten into third when Australian Robbie McEwen recovered from a crash for a stunning finish.
Wearing the sprinters' green jersey could provide Boonen with the confidence he needs having not won a stage on the Tour since Tours in 2005.
However, McEwen, who has won the coveted jersey three times and trails Boonen by only one point in the sprinters' standings, will again be a threat to the Belgian when the Tour leaves Belgium and goes back into France.
"The stage flirts with the route of Paris-Roubaix but without venturing onto any of the cobbled sections from the 'Hell of the North'," said Tour competition director Jean-Francois Pescheux.
Though a bunch sprint is likely, it is not the certainty that it was on the two previous days.
Pescheux warned: "This stage also gives the escape artists their first realistic chance of breaking away and staying clear."
The Tour de France will pay tribute to former director Jean-Marie Leblanc when the route passes by his home in Fontaine au Bois.
Leblanc retired at the end of last year's Tour.
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