"My respect and heartfelt congrats!" - Jan Ullrich reacts to stunning Giro stage win of Georg Steinhauser

Denying Tadej Pogacar a third successive stage win at the 2024 Giro d'Italia, EF Education-EasyPost's Georg Steinhauser was the only man to better the Maglia Rosa on stage 17, taking the first victory of his professional career on his Grand Tour debut.

The 22-year-old German comes from good stock, with family ties to the sport of professional cycling through his father Tobias Steinhauser, a competitor at the 1997 Giro d'Italia and uncle through marriage, Jan Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997 and the Vuelta a Espana in 1999 before later seeing his legacy somewhat disgraced and admitting to doping during his peak.

Reacting to Steinhauser's stunning performance on stage 17 of the 2024 Giro d'Italia, Ullrich gave a warm response via a post to his official Instagram story. "My respect and heartfelt congrats Georg Steinhauser," writes the 50-year-old German proudly. "What a fabulous ride, what a success! You made it... you deserve it!" Ullrich continues.

Although Ullrich and Steinhauser's aunt are no longer together, the pair were married for over 12 years and with Tobias Steinhauser being a former teammate of the legendary figure in German cycling, Ullrich has seen Georg grow from a child to a Grand Tour stage winner. Part of the early breakaway, once they were caught, Steinhauser counter-attacked again on the penultimate climb and despite a late attack from the Maglia Rosa Tadej Pogacar, the German was able to hold on for the biggest result of his career in scintillating style.

Post-stage, when asked if he was thinking about his father and his uncle when ascending the final climb towards victory, Steinhauser revealed he had other things on his mind at the time. "To be honest, I didn't really think about much, I was just concentrating on the roads as they were wet and slippery," Steinhauser reflected with a chuckle. "I was just in the zone."