Just when you thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse for last year’s Giro d’Italia, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) Wednesday brought yet another appalling performance from the Canadian as he lost 13’35” on the day.

Although he may have found some consolation in the stage win of teammate Ramunas Navardauskas, this latest in a series of disastrous showing is sure to re-ignite speculation about Hesjedal’s continued presence in this year’s edition of the Italian stage race. Talking to the media ahead of Wednesday’s stage, Hesjedal appeared at a loss as to what is causing his spectacular debacle.

“Something’s not right. When I need to go full gas, my body doesn’t respond. It’s frustrating because I feel fine,” Ryder Hesjedal told Gazzetta dello Sport before the start of Wednesday’s stage 11. “I can stay in the race without problems, but since the time trial, I cannot go all out when I need to.”

Entering into the Giro as defending champion, most observers were confident that Hesjedal could fight for the pink jersey all the way to Brescia. After a solid spring, topped by strong rides at the Ardennes Classics, Hesjedal was certain he was on the right track for a successful title defence.

“It is frustrating. I did everything right,” he said. “I came here in excellent shape. I showed that through the first week of the race. I know what bad legs feel like. Something’s just not right.”

Over the past few days, however, Hesjedal’s Giro campaign has fallen apart at the seams. The first truly disturbing signs appeared on Sunday when Hesjedal astonishingly lost contact over a relatively easy fourth-category climb late in the stage to Florence to lose 1’04” to the favourites.

On Tuesday Hesjedal dissolved entirely. Struggling to maintain the pace over the category 1 Passo Cason di Lanza halfway through the stage and continually looking worse as the stage progressed Hesjedal lost 20’53” to leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and plummeted out of overall contention to 33rd at 23’45”.

“It’s been the same since the TT. In stage 9, on the last two climbs, I was having some problems. You can chalk it up to anything, having a bad moment, we can get beyond it,” Hesjedal said. “I felt fine on the rest day and through the start of the stage yesterday, but as soon as I had to go hard on the first real climb, my body doesn’t respond. Clearly there’s something wrong. When the body’s not right, it’s not possible to do the maximum effort. I need to try to figure it out and see how it goes.”

Following media speculation that he might abandon the race prior to Wednesday’s stage, Hesjedal was adamant in his vows to remain part of the race.

“I want to honour the race. We’ll see what that situation is. I will support my team, the race, the fans. The support’s been incredible. I just have to keep going to see what happens,” he said.

That was before Wednesday’s debacle, though. Time will tell if Hesjedal reconsider and pulls out before the arduous mountain stages to possibly allow himself some time to recuperate and return to full strength at the Tour de France. Hesjedal is currently 37th overall, 31’39” behind Nibali.