diff --git a/cmd/git-sync/main.go b/cmd/git-sync/main.go
index d9b5e31..3f05586 100644
--- a/cmd/git-sync/main.go
+++ b/cmd/git-sync/main.go
@@ -628,16 +628,15 @@ func main() {
 		}
 
 		if changed, hash, err := git.SyncRepo(ctx); err != nil {
+			failCount++
 			updateSyncMetrics(metricKeyError, start)
-			if *flMaxSyncFailures != -1 && failCount >= *flMaxSyncFailures {
+			if *flMaxSyncFailures != -1 && failCount > *flMaxSyncFailures {
 				// Exit after too many retries, maybe the error is not recoverable.
 				log.Error(err, "too many failures, aborting", "failCount", failCount)
 				os.Exit(1)
 			}
 
-			failCount++
-			log.Error(err, "unexpected error syncing repo, will retry")
-			log.V(0).Info("waiting before retrying", "waitTime", flPeriod.String())
+			log.Error(err, "unexpected error syncing repo, will retry", "failCount", failCount, "waitTime", flPeriod.String())
 			cancel()
 			time.Sleep(*flPeriod)
 			continue
@@ -689,6 +688,9 @@ func main() {
 			initialSync = false
 		}
 
+		if failCount > 0 {
+			log.V(5).Info("resetting failure count", "failCount", failCount)
+		}
 		failCount = 0
 		log.DeleteErrorFile()
 		log.V(1).Info("next sync", "waitTime", flPeriod.String())