Launceston’s 32-year-old Team BMC leader was involved in a big crash 30 kilometres from the end of the 203.5km stage from Dusseldorf to Liege.

Porte escaped relatively lightly, recovering to sit 44th overall, 47 seconds behind former teammate Geraint Thomas.

But the situation was not so clear for Thomas’s Team Sky leader Chris Froome who also fell in the crash and twice had to be nurtured back into the peloton having also required a bike change.

​“I came out of the crash okay but there were a few guys that went down a lot harder,” said a relieved Porte.

“It was a stressful day. It was the first real stage of the Tour and then you get the rain, then it dries up, and then starts raining again. It was a nice one to come through and it's nice to get the first crash out of the way and get on with it.

“Hopefully my knee is okay, I have a little bit of a bang on that, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow.”

German Marcel Kittel (Quickstep-Floors) won another rain-hit stage.

BMC chief medical officer Max Testa will monitor the team’s riders involved in the crash which also included Michael Schär and Damiano Caruso.

Sport director Fabio Baldato said: “We made it to the finish without a lot of trouble. We will look tonight but I hope there is nothing serious.”

Campbell Town’s Will Clarke claimed a podium finish in the prologue of the Tour of Austria.

The 32-year-old, considered unlucky to miss out on a Tour de France berth, was third over 800 metres in Graz, just four seconds behind Italian winner Oscar Gatto (Astana), and therefore sits third on general classification as the field embarks on the first of six stages.

One of eight riders in a Cannondale-Drapac team made up of seven different nationalities, Clarke has not raced since finishing the Route du Sud in France last month having picked up five UCI points for his seventh-place finish in the Hammer Sportzone Limburg in The Netherlands.

Clarke’s return to the WorldTour has seen him contest the Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix classics and compete in half a dozen countries across Northern Europe.

Tasmanian Institute of Sport Racing Team riders all finished in a large group behind the winners in the 114km Moorslede road race in Belguim.

A day after celebrating Launceston captain Harrison Musgrave’s 21st birthday, they joined a field of 112 starters with Cuan Van Staden finishing 47^th, Jake Oliver 56^th, Jason Rigg 68^th and Musgrave 75^th with Michael Astell and Jacob Langham in recovery mode.

Coach Matthew Gilmore and his son, team member Zack, will join the squad in Europe later this week.