For the second consecutive day Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) was the big loser in yesterday's wet and tricky 9th stage of the Giro d'Italia. Having already lost plenty of time in Saturday's time trial, the defending champion was dropped on the last climb due to what he describes as "a bad moment".

When Ryder Hesjedal when on the offensive already on the third stage in this year's Giro d'Italia, the defending champion appeared to be even stronger than last year and afterwards he told reporters that the day had not even been hard. The Canadian seemed to be on top of his game and looked like a more than likely challenger to the expected Wiggins-Nibali duel.

Since then things have turned completely around. Already in the rain-soaked stage 7 to Pescara, the Canadian seemed to be struggling to catch up when the likes of Vincenzo Nibali and Michele Scarponi attacked uphill and downhill. And on Saturday he was a surprisingly disappointing 18th in the time trial to move down to 6th more than two minutes behind overall leader Nibali.

The most recent blow to his GC ambitions came yesterday when the Canadian suddenly slipped back on the final climb in another wet stage of this year's Giro. Assisted by teammate Tom Danielson he fought hard to limit his losses but at the end he had conceded 1.06 to his most dangerous rivals to slip back into 11th 3.11 behind Nibali.

Despite his recent struggles the Canadian remained optimistic and pointed out that his time loss had not been a consequence of a complete off-day.

"It wasn't even a bad day, it was a bad moment," he told Cyclingnews. "I could already feel on the second to last climb that something was not right, I couldn't get the power out of my legs. Then the last one was even steeper, and the way the race was going I had to ride tempo and limit the damage."

The Canadian sought to explain why he had once again been dealt a blow in his quest to take another Giro win.

"Maybe I had a severe case of time trial butt as well and the cold got through to my muscles as well so I couldn't find the power for those short moments," he said. "Then you've got 40 guys going full gas fighting for the stage and the classification, so it was a bad moment to have that happen. But it could have been worse and there's a rest day now as well."

Hesjedal will certainly enjoy today's possibility to rest up before he heads right into one of the Giro'd most crucial stages, Tuesday's first big summit finish. Starting at 14.15 you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.