At this point in the 2005 Tour de France, Tom Boonen had already given his Quick Step team a couple of stage wins and taken the green jersey. Twelve months later, he again leads the points competition and he starts Wednesday’s stage 4 in Huy, Belgium, wearing the yellow jersey of race leader — but without winning any of the opening stages. The world champion would like to change that win-less record as soon as possible.

But, first, let’s see what has kept Boonen from adding to his list of 17 season victories. After coming an excellent 12th in Saturday’s prologue, the tall Belgian was the favorite to win stage 1 in Strasbourg. His Quick Step teammates worked hard to pull back the day’s long breakaway, but they were largely absent when it came to the final mass sprint. Boonen hit the front too soon and had to ease off; then he got hit by a projectile (either a camera or bag of water); and, after getting into Thor Hushovd’s slipstream, the Norwegian’s arm struck a fan’s outstretched camera (or big green publicity hand) and blood spurted into Boonen’s face, forcing him to stop pedaling. He finished in 13th.

At Esch-sur-Alzette on Monday, things went a lot better, but again he had some bad luck when one of his lead-out men, Mateo Tosatto, crashed 15km from the finish. Boonen made a late charge to place second to an un-catchable Robbie McEwen.

Then came Tuesday’s spectacular finish in Valkenburg. This time, Boonen felt his front tire losing air with 5km still to go. It was too late to change the wheel, and he blamed the softening tire on not being able to follow Matthias Kessler when the German made his winning attack on the Cauberg climb. “I had the legs to follow Kessler … but I couldn’t stand on the pedals as I couldn’t put too much weight on the tire,” said the 176-pound Belgian.

Boonen recovered in time to contest the sprint for second, but handicapped by the soft tire he crossed the line behind Italian rival Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) and the surprising Michael Rogers (T-Mobile). The points Boonen took for fourth place gave him the green jersey by one point over Thor Hushovd (who finished in the second group, 17 seconds back) and two points over McEwen (who rolled in a half-minute back).

Stage 4: Does this one suit Boonen?

McEwen was unfortunate to lose his top lead-out rider Fred Rodriguez who abandoned with an injured right shoulder and wrist and a slight concussion. Also, his other American teammate, Chris Horner, dislocated a finger on Tuesday, after banging up his right knee in another crash on Monday. With some of his troops injured or heading home, McEwen will have a harder time trying to win the stage in St. Quentin on Wednesday.

The finish to stage 4 is one that suits both McEwen and Boonen. It’s almost identical to the stage finish that gave the Belgian his first Tour stage victory at Angers in 2004: gradually uphill after a series of turns in the last 2km. McEwen could not contest that sprint two years ago because he crashed heavily with 1km to go. Assuming both men are in good position for the finish Wednesday, expect Boonen to have that extra incentive to take his first win of this Tour.