Liam O'Brien has hit the ground running this season with Lidl-Trek Future Racing, as evidenced by his call-ups to the Lidl-Trek World Tour team, and now the Irish teenager is on the cusp of his first podium finish in a UCI-ranked stage race.
The 19-year-old left himself in a very strong position after the climbing final to yesterday's stage at Flèche du Sud and today he overhauled may of the riders just ahead of him in the general classification.
His performance against the watch today in Luxembourg, where he was 5th in the 18.6km flat TT in Sanem means he is now in line for a podium finish when the race concludes tomorrow in Esch-sur-Alzette.
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Today's TT was won by the Irishman's team mate, 20-year-old Swede Jakob Söderqvist, who took victory by 38 seconds from runner-up Nils Sinschek (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and yellow jersey Pim Ronhaar (Baloise-Trek Lions).
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O'Brien was 5th at 45 seconds and that result moved him up from 16th this morning to 3rd overall, some 1:24 down on race leader Ronhaar. However, the top 10 in general classification is tightly packed, with only one minute between O'Brien and the 13th placed rider Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal).
And that means the young Irishman and his team will need to be attentive tomorrow, on the stage tomorrow, which is 149.5km comprised of six laps of a circuit with a 1km climb at 6.7 per cent on the circuit.
