On Sunday Boonen 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 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'," Jean-Francois Pescheux, Tour competition director, said.

Though a bunch sprint is likely, it is not the certainty that it was on the two previous days.

"This stage also gives the escape artists their first realistic chance of breaking away and staying clear," Pescheux added.

The Tour de France will pay tribute to Jean-Marie Leblanc, the former director who retired at the end of last year's race, when the route passes by his home in Fontaine au Bois.