His contract was announced Tuesday morning, and sees him ink a three-year deal with the Swiss squad.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien moves up after spending three years with the Lidl-Trek Future Racing team, which is an amateur feeder team linked to the Lidl-Trek squad.<\/p>\n
“Becoming a professional cyclist is a childhood dream coming true,” he said. “I\u2019ve learnt a huge amount over the past three years, both as a rider and as a person, and I feel ready for this next step.<\/p>\n
“From my first conversations with Douglas (general manager Douglas Ryder) and the other managers, I immediately felt a connection with the team and a really positive environment. That was important to me. I want to keep developing, learn from the people around me and contribute to the team from the beginning.”<\/p>\n
The squad is already home to two Irish riders, Eddie Dunbar and Sam Bennett, and is led by the British all-rounder Tom Pidcock. The latter\u2019s presence is of significance too, as O\u2019Brien made clear when paying tribute to his brother Shane.<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s an important part of my journey and always will be,” he said of his brother. “Tom Pidcock was his ultimate idol, so he\u2019s definitely happy I\u2019m joining the team.”<\/p>\n
![\"Liam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024e4f2-614.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien – pictured above – hails from Fermoy, which is approximately 50km from Dunbar\u2019s home town. That too is part of why the team composition feels apt to him.<\/p>\n
“Having Eddie in the team will be really nice. He\u2019s achieved a lot in the sport and having another Irish rider there, especially someone from Cork, will help me with the step up,” O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n
Still just 21 years of age, O\u2019Brien has made his mark as a strong climber. He won the mountains jersey in this year\u2019s Ronde de l\u2019Isard, a prestigious under-23 competition, and placed second and fourth overall in 2025 and 2026 respectively.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien also finished third overall in the 2024 Fleche du Sud and fourth in last year\u2019s Giro Ciclistico della Valle d\u2019Aosta-Mont Blanc.<\/p>\n
Multi-day events are where he feels his future lies, meaning he could end up targeting races such as the Tour de France, Giro d\u2019Italia and Vuelta a Espana.<\/p>\n
“I see myself as a strong climber and a rider who gets better as stage races become harder,” he said. “I love the toughest days and I want to continue developing in that direction, while also becoming someone the team can rely on in the mountains.”<\/p>\n
General manager Ryder believes in that potential too, and also in his mindset.<\/p>\n
“What stood out to us about Liam wasn\u2019t just his results, but his character,” he said. “He\u2019s a grounded young rider with a real love for the sport, a strong work ethic, and a genuine curiosity to learn and improve every day.<\/p>\n
“At 21, he\u2019s already shown he can perform in the mountains and handle the demands of stage racing, but we believe he\u2019s only scratching the surface of what he\u2019s capable of. Our job now is to give him the support, guidance and opportunities to continue that progression at the professional level.”<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien is likely to target the under-23 event at cycling\u2019s World Road Race Championships in September.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a good week too for 20-year-old Seth Dunwoody, who took runner up finishes at two prestigious amateur races this season.<\/p>\n
The Armagh cyclist went agonisingly close to winning the amateur Paris-Roubaix in April, leading out the sprint in the hallowed velodrome but being pipped in a photo finish by the Italian Davide Donati.<\/p>\n
He also took second in the sprint in the In Flanders Fields – In Ieper\/Kattekoers race in May, the under-23 version of Gent Wevelgem.<\/p>\n
Dunwoody won stages in the Giro d\u2019Italia Next Gen, Turul Romaniei and the Circuit des Ardennes in 2025.<\/p>\n
On Monday it was confirmed that he will step up to the Bahrain Victorious WorldTour team on a three-year deal, having competed as a junior with its Cannibal-Victorious U19 Development Team and, for the past two seasons, for the Bahrain Victorious Development Team.<\/p>\n
![\"Seth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024e4f4-614.jpg\"\/)
\nSeth Dunwoody competing at the 2022 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Slovakia<\/p>\n
“Seth\u2019s promotion is a very important moment for our project because it shows that the pathway we have been building from Cannibal B Victorious through the Development Team to the WorldTour is working as we intended,” stated managing director Milan Erzen.<\/p>\n
Dunwoody\u2019s fast finish is important for Irish cycling as Tour de France green jersey winner Sam Bennett is nearing the end of his career. The young rider looks set in the coming years to fill the role as the best Irish sprinter, meaning that both he and climbing specialist O\u2019Brien could shine in races such as the Tour.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s further down the line; for now, Dunwoody describes his new WorldTour contract as a dream come true.<\/p>\n
“Coming through the junior team and then the development team has been nothing short of incredible,” he said, thanking the staff for their help.<\/p>\n
“Stepping into the Bahrain Victorious WorldTour team feels like the natural next step after years of support from everyone involved. It\u2019s also an ambitious team with a strong roster and shared goals for success, which made my decision an easy one.<\/p>\n
“This is only the beginning, and I\u2019m excited to keep developing, working hard and hopefully achieving great things with Bahrain Victorious.”<\/p>\n
Dunwoody also expressed his gratitude for his family, who he said have played a key role in helping him get to where he is.<\/p>\n
“They have supported my dream of becoming a WorldTour rider since I was eight years old.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top Irish amateur cyclists Liam O’Brien and Seth Dunwoody have unveiled multi-year professional contracts, with the promising duo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-604290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}