As the peloton reached the foot of the Mur de Huy climb for the penultimate time, at the worst possible moment, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) suffered a flat and his teammate, Thomas Dekker, was forced to give him his wheel.

Hesjedal subsequently gave an impressive chase and bridged up to the favourites’ group again before the final ascent on the Mur.

“The team was excellent today,” said Hesjedal on the team website$. “Thomas Dekker gave me his wheel at the bottom of the Mur and helped me out; I had to do a huge effort to get up it and have a chance to get back, and Haas was at the top and did a huge effort to help me. Dan and I had some bad luck but it is still a great result and a really good total team effort day. I feel good as I continue to build for the Giro and Sunday [Liège-Bastogne-Liège] is looking good for us, we’re going in with confidence. I’m a year fitter and stronger so who knows what can happen. The whole team is going well and today is a big confidence boost going into La Doyenne. I believed I could do well, and the boys rode impeccably so we’ll enjoy the result tonight and then start looking forward to the next big one.”

Ryder Hesjedal will defend his 2012 Giro d’Italia win when the Italian grand tour kicks off in Naples on Saturday May 4.