Can Georg Steinhauser live up to uncle Jan Ullrich's cycling legacy?

"Like father, like son," as the adage goes and, in the world of sports, there are many children who follow in their parent's footsteps – with greater or lesser success. A good example of this is Georg Steinhauser, son of former cyclist Tobias Steinhauser and nephew-in-law of the legendary Jan Ullrich.

At 22 years old and in the first Grand Tour of his professional career on the bicycle, the 2024 Giro d'Italia, the young Steinhauser has already shown good qualities, especially in his run in the Passo del Brocon in May, where he finished in 33rd place despite some impressive stages.

Since he was a child, Steinhauser's life has heavily centred around professional cycling, to the point that one could say that it is a sport that runs through his veins. Firstly, in large part to his father, who we saw racing between 1996 and 2005 in well-known teams such as Vitalicio Seguros, Mapei-Quick Step, Gerolsteiner, Coast/Bianchi or T-Mobile.

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And it was in those last two teams, Coast/Bianchi and T-Mobile, when Tobías Steinhauser became a teammate and training partner for his compatriot Jan Ullrich. This would give rise to a close friendship that ended in Ullrich's marriage to his sister, Sara Steinhauser.

With her, Ullrich was married between 2006 and 2018, that is, from when Georg was 5 years old until he was 17. Throughout his childhood and training as a cyclist, he had access to two of the most well-known cyclists of the international peloton.

As the young Steinhauser told Eurosport, his "very close relationship" with Ullrich and his father's work had inspired him to follow in their footsteps and take up the family business, as it were – but not immediately.

"For me it was like he was an uncle. I didn't understand that his achievements were important; he was like an uncle I played with. It was normal. Cycling had no importance when we were together," he told Eurosport. But, in the end, he would catch the competitive cycling bug.

From a very young age, Georg Steinhauser trained to become a professional in the world of cycling, something he has now finally achieved. To get this far, he had to overcome a major knee injury and finish his university studies in metallurgy before making the leap to professionalism.

Before taking that step, Steinhauser was part of the Tirol KTM Cycling Team, an Austrian team of the UCI Continental Circuits between 2020 and 2021. Here he began to take his first steps at cycling's highest level and achieved his first successes, winning a stage of the Giro del Valle de Aosta and finishing second in the Tour of Bulgaria.

But it was in 2022, still 20 years old, when the young German cyclist joined the UCI World Tour, the highest category of road cycling that includes the three Grand Tours – Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España – with the American team EF Education-EasyPost.

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As recalled on the EF Education-EasyPost website, one of his early career highlights came at the final stage of the 2023 Tour of the Alps, in which he worked to help his teammate Simon Carr break out and win that race. Steinhauser would take second place.

That same year 2023, in the Route of Occitania, a race that takes place in the south of France, Steinhauser placed third in the general classification and won the jersey of best young rider. However, it would not be until May 2024 when he made headlines with his great victory in the Giro d'Italia, passing none other than the Slovenian Tadej Pogačar.

"I simply concentrated on the road, which was super slippery due to the rain. I didn't leave my zone," said the Bavarian EF cyclist at the finish line after that first victory as a professional, who added, "I only got nervous when I heard on the radius that Pogačar was moving behind. "I knew I couldn't relax for a minute," he told the Guardian after the event.

As well as a strict training and competition schedule, the German cyclist also likes to ride a bicycle in his free time, as well as practice skiing in the colder months.

On the EF Education-EasyPost website they also highlight the great future that lies ahead for Steinhauser, highlighting the great virtues that he has as a cyclist: "On the bicycle, he is becoming an all-rounder with a great capacity for both climbing and time trial".

The heritage received cannot lead to misunderstandings and the German, without a doubt, has cycling in his blood. Time will tell if he can make it as far as Tobias Steinhauser and Jan Ullrich and achieve true greatness on the bike.

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