The battle for the Giro d'Italia GC lead between Jai Hindley and Richard Kalapas may have been extended by one more stage on Wednesday, but the race's mountainous attrition battle still managed to put the two top contenders another step ahead of their rivals. After a tough mountain stage on day two, the two fought an almost symbolic battle for the right to fifth and sixth place behind stage winner Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorias), with Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) settling for sixth place. He was only three seconds behind Karapas (Ineos Grenadiers).

But after a few energy-restoring Haribo snacks and catching his breath, Hindley spoke to a small group of reporters, including Cycling News' Steven Farrand, and found that his day at the Giro d'Italia had not been so bad after all He recalled that.

Rather than Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) in third place by 44 seconds, the Portuguese racer's slowly fading GC effort saw the longtime 2020 Giro leader replaced by Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) on the provisional podium by 1:05. He has been replaced.

Nevertheless, Hindley continued to pose the biggest challenge to Calapaz, and he was the narrow winner of the mountain stage in the Dolomites after Aprica took four seconds back from Maria Rosa with a third place time bonus. With four days to go, if he is not in the pink, he will not be able to come close. The man in fifth place overall, double Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Cazacustan), is similar, with his time loss in Carapaz ballooning from 3:40 to 5:48. Hindley did not attempt to do anything more than stay in touch with the Ecuadorian riders on Tuesday. But with four stages to go, the downside of the GC coin shines much brighter for Hindley than it did 24 hours ago. 'It's a lot harder when you don't finish at the top of the hill. I don't think it was the most decisive stage, but it's nice to see the time difference from the others," Hindley said.

"Everyone says the Giro is decided in minutes, but that's not true anymore, every second counts."

With that in mind, and with the Giro taking a break from the mountains and overall contenders on Thursday before the three final stages in northeastern Italy, Hindley recognized that his chances of cutting further into the GC were rapidly disappearing. On his strongest climbs, he cited Saturday's crossing of the Pordoi and the finish atop Fedaia as the best options to inflict maximum damage on his opponents.

Looking back on stage 17, though, Hindley insisted that with himself, Calapaz, and Landa evenly matched, there was not much more that could be done, especially after the struggles into Aprica via tough climbs such as Monday's Mortirolo.

"I think my legs were pretty tired after yesterday's epic stage. 'So I was pretty tired too, to be honest. I think Carapaz and Landa are on an even level, and it was a pretty tough final round."

Nevertheless, Hindley continued to pose the biggest challenge to Kalapas, taking four seconds back from Maria Rosa in Aprica with the time bonus of third place. If he is not in the pink, with four days to go, he could be even closer.