VIDEO: Georg Steinhauser's father breaks down in tears in Eurosport studio after son's solo Giro d'Italia stage win

Stage 17 of the 2024 Giro d'Italia is one that will long be remembered in the Steinhauser household as EF Education-EasyPost's Georg Steinhauser powered to a first professional victory on his Grand Tour debut.

Coming from a strong cycling family, Steinhauser has many familial ties to the sport through his father and former Giro d'Italia competitor in his own right, Tobias Steinhauser and uncle through marriage, German cycling icon Jan Ullrich.

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, married for over 12 years to Steinhauser's aunt and reacted with pride to the young German talent's stage win on his official Instagram story post-stage. "My respect and heartfelt congrats Georg Steinhauser," wrote the 50-year-old German. "What a fabulous ride, what a success! You made it... you deserve it!" 

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."

For Steinhauser's father however, things were even more emotional. Working in the Eurosport studio for the channel's German coverage, Steinhauser senior was visibly touched by the epic ride he was watching from his son, breaking down in tears as he crossed the finish line for the biggest result of his career. Steinhauser senior had previously demanded his son learn a trade to fall back on due to the precarious nature of a career in the peloton. Having seen his son become a Grand Tour stage winner however, he was overcome with emotion. See the touching scenes in the video down below, courtesy of Eurosport's social media pages.