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.