Gandalf's battle against the Nine on Weathertop is the most underplayed and underreported major battle in TLOTR. I think many readers tend to discount it because we only get Gandalf's terse summary at the Council, and the Hobbit narrators only saw it from afar.
What should clue us in to the epic nature of this battle is the word hope, the most important word in TLOTR, and perhaps the major theme. When Gandalf says, "I could not hope to do more", this should lead us to elevate the importance of this fight, and pay more attention to it.
Does Gandalf ever say "I could not hope", anywhere else?
If we pay attention to the text, we realize that Gandalf instigates this fight. "They were there (Weathertop) before me. They drew away from me, for they felt the coming of my anger and they dared not face it while the Sun was in the sky." Gandalf sees the Riders, and charges towards them, burning with anger (perhaps much of it aimed at himself). Gandalf attacks! If he could destroy, cripple, or drive off the Riders, this would very much protect the Ring, and improve the chances of the Hobbits, led by Strider, making it to Rivendell.
Gandalf attacks knowing it is likely to be a desperate struggle, and perhaps a losing one, as he said to the Council, when recounting his conversation with Radaghast, "My heart sank. For even the Wise might fear to withstand the Nine, when they are gathered together under their fell chieftain. A great king and sorcerer he was of old, and now he wields a deadly fear."
The Riders evade Gandalf's attack, and 'draw away' while the daylight lasts. But, they are not giving up, nor fleeing. They are waiting for the Dark. Gandalf, presumably, would not have needed to continue this battle into the Night. He could have evaded on Shadowfax and gotten away (just as he did later). He does not. Driven by his anger, he decides to defend the hilltop and fight on through the Night!
Not a great decision! When Gandalf says, "I was hard put to it indeed", I read this as "I was almost defeated". Gandalf was correct when he thought that, "even the Wise might fear to withstand the Nine, when they are gathered together under their fell chieftain".
In the end, even once Day has come again, Gandalf and Shadowfax run for their lives. Gandalf, "could not hope to do more". No Estel. No Amdir. No chance of defeating or damaging the Nine. Gandalf was fortunate that this battle was not his last.
We can guess how wounded and damaged Gandalf was by this battle, because even when pursued by only 4 of the Riders (and not the Witch King) Gandalf does not try to turn and attack them, but keeps on fleeing!