Kings of the sprints

The sprinters will do battle throughout the Tour's opening week

The first week of the Tour de France is all about the sprints and predicting which of the powerhouses of the peloton will fire on all cylinders as the riders clock up to 70km/h at a stage finish.

There are a host of key figures who will be aiming to get into the mix in the sprints and win the green jersey - the prize for the leading points scorer at the end of the race in Paris.

BBC Sport columnist Robbie McEwen was the grateful recipient of that jersey 12 months ago and a year on profiles the leading contenders for green and their pros and cons.

TOM BOONEN

He's the form man at the moment and has picked up a host of big wins already in 2005, among them the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Belgium.

It sounds ridiculous really but Boonen's big strength is that he is very strong.

He's not what you'd call a natural sprinter really but a big guy who can ride his bike very fast.

He'll go for the sprint win from a long way out and just keep winding it up, winding it up and build up his pace more and more to the line, and that's given him an almighty number of wins.

But his strength is also his big weakness. Because he's big, he doesn't have that big jump and final acceleration. He's more lik a V8 engine than a V6 turbo, if you like.

Tom Boonen profile

THOR HUSHOVD

Like Boonen, he's also a really big guy. And like the Belgian, Hushovd's one of the form men in the peloton at the moment.

He pushed me pretty hard last season in the green jersey but I just got the better of him. Hopefully that'll be the same again.

He's also a rider who's up for a fairly long sort of sprint but, when he starts sprinting, he seems to go at full dash until the line, which can often catch those around him out.

Sometimes, though, that can mean he's expended all his energy before being properly able to crank it up with a final flourish on the line.

Thor Hushovd profile

ROBBIE MCEWEN

Well, I couldn't leave myself out. After my success on the Giro d'Italia and the Tour of Switzerland, I think I'm something of a form man as well.

My biggest asset is my unpredictability. Most of my rivals don't know what I'm going to do because most of the time I don't know what I'm going to do until the last minute.

I think I'm able to change tactic really quickly and come up with a solution that gets thrown up to me by a rival. If I can react in the right way to what they do, that's the important thing.

From my point of view, it is important not to do the same thing each time. It preys on your rivals' minds. And that makes me a difficult opponent because they don't know what I'm going to do.

Robbie McEwen profile

BEST OF THE REST

It's always difficult to know who exactly's going to shine in the Tour until we get going. This year two big names will be missing in Erik Zabel and Alessandro Petacchi.

One guy who will be there and is worth watching out for is Jean Patrick Nazon. I don't normally see him the rest of the year and then suddenly he pops up and generally has an excellent Tour.

Baden Cooke's a form man as well. He's riding strongly, although I've yet to see him sprinting.

The list could go on but the other guy who could surprise is the South African Robert Hunter. He may not be the biggest threat in all the sprints but he's a better all-round cyclist than most of us sprinters.

And that could see him steadily climb up those points standings.