After stage 3: 159.5km from Antwerp to Huy in Belgium

HUY: When you see crashes like the high speed one that marred the third stage of this year's Tour de France from Antwerp to Huy in Belgium on Monday, it does mess with your head.

The noise of it was unbelievable. It happened on the right side of the road, but then riders went down on the left as they tried to avoid the carnage.

You don't want to look around and see what's happened – that is dangerous in itself – but if you are lucky to miss it – as I was - you can't help but worry about how everybody is.

I was in the 2011 Giro d'Italia when the Dutch rider Wouter Weylandt was killed in a crash. Since then, every time there are crashes now, it leaves that gut wrenching feeling in me.

And in a race as flighty as this Tour, you can't help but wonder what is going to happen next.

 Since the race began on Saturday, there has been no shortage of incidents, and as the race continues the apprehension in the peloton continues to rise.

How everyone is on edge was clear when the stage was neutralised and then stopped after the main crash with 55km to go.

Later we heard it was because there were not enough doctors and ambulances to follow the race had it continued because they were all attending to the riders who had been injured.

That is totally understandable, but at the time, we didn't know what was going on. For a large part of that time no one had a clue what was happening.

At least we on Team Sky had something to show for it by the time the stage came to an end – the yellow leader's jersey.

Chris Froome took it with his second place on the stage behind the Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).  While we don't expect him to keep it from here to the Tour finish in Paris which is where he wants it, the outcome gave him a boost and all of us on the team one as well.

Funnily, he wasn't even aware that he had jumped ahead of the overnight leader Fabian Cancellara (Trek) – who withdrew from the Tour later due to his injuries in the main crash of the day.

He was cooling down at the team bus when someone said, 'You have the jersey.' He was like, 'What?'. He didn't believe it. He didn't have a clue.

From my end, I was happy that I was able to have some impact on a day that I had pencilled in to be an opportunity to do something.

I had a good dig at the front setting tempo on the second last climb. It felt good and certainly gave a boost to my moral that I am in good form and hopefully will be come the mountains later in the Tour.

Monday's stage put 'Froomey' in a really good position going into Tuesday's fourth stage that was highlighted – if you can say that – by the seven sectors of cobblestones.

Not that it minimised the inevitable stress for Tuesday's stage though, or the dangers for everyone.

As with Sunday and Monday, we knew that anything could happen, and that as quickly as fortune could come your way, so too could misfortune come and kick you in the behind.

* Australian Team Sky rider Richie Porte is racing his fourth Tour de France