Few would have mentioned Rick Zabel when predicting who would be the fastest on the final climb of the Giro d'Italia stage 2 time trial.

The German is hardly known for his climbing skills and, in fact, will be concentrating on his idiosyncrasies on Sunday's flat third stage as the lead-out man for Israeli Premier Tech sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo.

However, of the 176 riders on Saturday's 9.2-km time trial course, Zabel set the fastest time on the final 1.3-km uphill section.

This was not a timing error, but upon closer inspection, a clever tactic by Zabel and his team. When they showed up at the start of Sunday's stage in their mountain prize blue jerseys, it was clear that a plan had been formulated and executed.

The time trial course was divided into two parts, with the first 7.9km across the Danube River being flat and the final 1.3km down a double-digit gradient before easing off in the last kilometer. While the intermediate times will provide clues for pacing strategy, this section will be eligible for the mountain prize, with the fastest rider of the day earning 3 points.

Zabel, in particular, clocked just over 2:14, more than 4 seconds faster than stage winner Simon Yates.

But where did he get such climbing ability? The answer lies in Zabel's early 7.9km time. He was the second slowest of all competitors, more than 90 seconds slower than Yates and faster than Thomas Bayer, who crashed. In fact, Zabel pedaled as slowly as possible without exceeding the time limit.

He was not alone in thinking so. Pascal Enckhorn (Jumbo Visma), known for his success on the flat, rode equally slowly in the early stages and was second, just 77/100 of a second behind Zabel's time. Diego Rosa (Eolo Cometa), sandwiched between Yates and Mathieu van der Pol, was another rider who tried the same tactic.

The fastest climber uphill was awarded three mountain points, which Zabel earned. It was not enough to take the overall lead, but it was enough to put him in line with stage 1 winner Van der Pol. With the Dutchman wearing the overall leader's pink jersey, the blue jersey worn by the second-place finisher in the mountain standings was loaned to him.

"Crazy plan," wrote Israel Premier Tech performance coach Greg Henderson sarcastically. 'Who'd have thought?'

But it's been done before, even by Zabel himself at this race two years ago. That late 2020 edition of the Giro opened with a short time trial from Monreale to Palermo.

Zabel was the fastest up this section, ahead of Peter Sagan and Davide Ballerini. However, he started the next stage in the blue jersey.

Two years later, he did it all over again.