Steven Kruijswijk searches to find his top gear 11 days in to the Giro d’Italia, today fighting to stay with the top stars and slipping to 12th overall. Omar Fraile won the stage from an escape and Tom Dumoulin remained the leader, finishing ahead of Kruijswijk by 48 seconds.

"It's not going how it should go," said Kruijswijk after the mountainous stage. "In recent times, I did not feel super, but you're still hoping. I do not have the shape I had last year."

On the Monte Fumaiolo, Kruijswijk dropped from the group of favourites. He had help from Stef Clement to limit his damages, but still could not catch the Dumoulin group.

"It was a tricky stage and a though day. Basically, I had to be in the first group on that climb. It's frustrating that it is not going how I want it to. I don’t really know why, there is no reason for it. It’s frustrating when you come to the Giro with high ambitions."

"I told Steven that he had to wait a bit so that we could ride together on the Monte Fumaiolo,” Clement said. “From the top of the climb, we rode a time trial downhill to the finish. We rode as hard as possible to reduce the damage. It was a good thing that I saved my legs in the time trial yesterday."