It’s not often that Tom Boonen is satisfied with fourth place in a sprint finish in the Tour de France, especially on a day that finished in Compiègne in front of the start of his beloved Paris-Roubaix.

But the Quick Step-Innergetic sprinter was more than pleased after padding his lead as the battle for the green points jersey heats up three days into the Tour.

“I was left without my train today because I had to spend Tosatto, Rosseler and Steegmans in the final kilometers to shut down the breakaway,” Boonen said after the stage. “In the final sprint, I wanted to be on McEwen’s wheel and I was waiting for him to start his sprint, but he waited too long. By the time I did start my sprint, it was too late to try to catch Cancellara. I was able to finish ahead of McEwen, so I am satisfied.”

Boonen started Tuesday’s longest stage with a one-point lead over arch-rival McEwen, but saw that lead stand at 80-74 by adding five points to the margin.

McEwen was livid at the line after finishing seventh and said that Roberto Hunter (Barloworld) barged his line and forced him to restart his sprint, allowing Boonen to come around him to finish fourth.

“There’s no story to talk about, mate,” McEwen stewed.

Ahead of the start of Tuesday’s stage, McEwen said he was feeling better after falling hard late in Monday’s stage into Canterbury. The three-time green points jersey winner said he’s hoping to improve in the days ahead.

“The stiffness is going away and I hope to be better in the coming days,” he said. “The green jersey comes with winning stages. Right now the priority is to win stages.”

While it’s too early to say the green jersey will be a duel between McEwen and Boonen, the pair is stacking as favorites for a run for the top sprinter’s prize.

McEwen is aiming for his fourth green jersey while Boonen is targeting his first.

Aging German ace Erik Zabel (Milram) is within striking distance at third overall with 62 points, but has already said he won’t be chasing a seventh maillot vert while French prospect Romain Feillu (Agritubel) is hanging close in fourth with 57 points. 2005 winner Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) hasn’t had much luck yet and is 10th with 44 points.

So far, breakaways have sucked up the bonus sprints in the opening three road stages, but that will change later in the race when the peloton will begin jousting for mid-stage hot sprints.

With the race for the green jersey just taking shape, outsiders can quickly bounce into contention with a couple of hot days.

Astana’s ‘training day’
Astana is keeping a low profile so far in the opening days of the 94th Tour de France and Tuesday’s longest stage didn’t change that script.

Andreas Klöden quietly remained in second place but saw the gap increase to 33 seconds after Fabian Cancellara took the 20-second finish line bonus. The German star seemed content with Tuesday’s slow pace.

“It was really a training day. Nothing special happened,” Klöden said. “I even had time to talk with the other riders in the peloton. We were talking about family, home, talking of all and nothing.”

Team captain Alexandre Vinokourov – seen giving himself the holy cross at the finish line Monday after avoiding the horrendous finish line crash – was seen waving to French TV cameras in a gesture for a new arrival.

“It was a very long day, but also very quiet that unfolded without any problem, but at the end, things went very fast,” Vinokourov said. “My hand signs to the TV camera was a dedication to Andrej Kashechkin’s wife, Nadia, who had her first child, David, yesterday.”