Astana leader Jakob Fuglsang succinctly analyzed stage 5 of the Giro d'Italia in six words, calling it "a long day of almost nothing."

Speaking to the press under an umbrella as the rainstorms intensified and the finish line began to dim in the late afternoon, the Danish veteran claimed that with the relentless but - apart from a tough intermediate section - overwhelmingly gentle climbs of the Valico di Montescuro, there was no real chance of making a difference. He claimed that there was no.

After the main group completed the 24.9km climb up Valico di Montescuro and descended to the mountain resort of Camigliatello Silano to finish in a 22-man group, Fuglsang moved up two places, with race leader Dečuninck-Quick Step's young João Almeida moved up from ninth to seventh place, 1:19 behind the leader.

However, this move up was thanks to UAE Team Emirates' Brandon McNulty and Etna winner EF Pro Cycling's Jonathan Caicedo, who were not considered pre-race favorites to win, losing time and slipping out of the top 10. As Hugsang pointed out, another potential winner, Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), still put up a good fight, although he struggled a bit on stage 5.

"At least for me, I was expecting the climbs to be a bit harder," Fuglsang said. After Trek-Segafredo and Bora-Hansgrohe were the pacemakers for so long, he tried to get the Astana team to work near the summit, but to little effect.

"But the final climb wasn't too difficult.

When asked about Yates, Dane insisted that he was not eliminated from GC contention, given that the Brit finished the stage with the main group of favorites.

"I don't know what is going on, but he is trying to stay there. He was with us at the finish, so we're not too far away from him on GC," Fuglsang recalled.

Barring any major surprises, the GC battle will take a back seat for the next three days, with the breakaway likely to succeed in the undulating stages on Thursday and Saturday. Friday's flat stage in Brindisi, in the southeast, is called a "group sprint."

Like other contenders, Fuglsang's next chance to make a difference comes Sunday in Rocarasso, where the Dane finished second in the Abruzzo climb at the 2016 Giro, with Trek-Segafredo leader Vincenzo Nibali also losing time.

With history on his side after Thursday's disappointment, Fuglsang will not miss his next chance to make an impact on GC.