Liam O'Brien holds onto yellow with one stage to go | Junior Tour of Ireland Stage 5 | Sticky Bottle

*Liam O'Brien bears the weather of stage 5 as he lasts another day in* *the yellow jersey* (Photo: Sean Rowe)

Team Ireland's Liam O'Brien is just 79km away from bagging himself the Junior Tour of Ireland as he returned home safely placed within the front group on stage 5, maintaining his 6 second lead to 2nd place Hudson Lubbers.

The riders resumed in East Clare today following stage 4's cancellation due to hazardous conditions. The weather persisted as a factor regardless, as it was a day for the jackets and clear glasses.

Niall Colquitt (Isle of Man) brought home his team's first win of the Tour as he bested the rest in a bunch sprint. Kaden Colling of Ignite Canada followed in 2nd as Rhys Thomas (Bäckstedt Bike Performance JRT) joined them on the podium. Oisin Ferrity's name made yet another appearance in the top 5, just missing out on a podium finish as he took 4th.

It was a no-nonsense affair today from the Irish as any attempts to disrupt the peloton's peace were quickly snuffed out by Team Ireland, the strategy was obvious, protect the man in yellow.

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The blistering pace would have convinced any viewer that the stage in question was a flat one, with just 43 riders remaining in the yellow jersey group at the finish. However, the cyclists in fact took on just the five KOH climbs in under 100km.

Many struggled to match the intensity of those pushing the pace at the front of the peloton, with 20 riders losing contact within the first 20km. The trend would continue throughout the day as bodies consistently fell out the back, less than half of the starting numbers remained in the main group.

The rest day surely boded well for the team in green as not only did it bring the lads one stage closer to a possible GC victory, but it provided a chance to regain much-needed energy for the inevitable pressure that would be put on them.

With just one stage left in the books, Liam O'Brien holds a slender lead of 6 seconds over Hudson Lubbers and 16 seconds over Kaden Colling (both of Ignite Canada). Can Liam and Team Ireland hold on? It all comes down to stage 6.