After losing five minutes to the rest of the GC contenders at the Giro yesterday, Ryder Hesjedal’s ambitions of repeating his 2012 win or challenging for a top position are all but over for another year.

Hesjedal was caught out when Astana whittled the group of leaders down to just 25 riders on the penultimate climb.

“I’ll have to see the final results but it’s frustrating because it’s pretty much my fault,” Hesjedal told Cyclingnews at the finish. “You try to relax, you try to save energy… Who would have known that the front group would have gone with 15 guys on that second last climb? I just got a little bit isolated. The legs are there, and I stayed just behind that group for a long time but…”

“I lost five minutes today. Who would have though the racing would be like this in the first few days, over this kind of terrain? I mean it’s brutal.”

It was mixed emotions for the Canadian, who was sad to be out of the GC fight, but pleased for the team and teammate Davide Formolo, who took the stage 22 seconds ahead of the GC men.

“I don’t know, I’ve got to think about it some more. We won the stage, you know, so that’s good,” he said. “But you definitely don’t want to lose time on this stage. And when it wasn’t because of the legs, well that makes it even more frustrating.”

But he hasn’t lost hope of taking back time and still salvaging a good result for himself and his team.

“There weren’t that many guys up there and it’s still going to be a big battle for fifth and those placings,” Hesjedal said. “Alberto, Richie, Aru and Uran, they’re at a high level. But after that, guys who gained time today could lose it tomorrow, it’s been very tough. It was agonisingly close, I was right there and I was surprised to see how small the front group was at the finish.”