Last year’s runner-up lost 11 seconds on his General Classification rivals to go into stage nine in 23rd position and 3:40 behind race leader Attila Valter.
Hindley was forced to chase hard on the final 3km climb as Matteo Fabbro went to ground, holding up the trailing riders.
The Team DSM rider finished the race nearly five minutes behind stage winner Victory Lafay.
Hindley’s loss has him with plenty of work to do as he goes into Sunday’s mountain stage which includes a gravel finale.
It was the latest in a run of setbacks faced by 25-year-old Hindley after he fell behind on stage 4 before losing further time on stage 6.
One consolation for the Aussie was that he wasn’t the only GC contender to lose time on stage eight with Pello Bilbao falling 30 seconds behind after becoming caught up in the same crash.
The 2021 Giro d'Italia continues as the riders tackle the climb from Castel di Sangro to Campo Felice - LIVE, FREE and in HD TONIGHT from 8:05pm AEST on SBS On Demand and 9:15pm AEST on SBS VICELAND.