AG2R Citröen leader Benoît Cosnefroy has been forced to delay the start of his 2021 campaign due to a knee injury.
The Frenchman, who was set to kick off his year with a defence of his Etoile de Bessèges title on February 3, has suffered from knee pain for 10 days, according to a statement released by his team.
A medical check-up didn't turn up any lesions or damage, but his training schedule has been altered as a result.
No set date has yet been announced for Cosnefroy's rescheduled return to racing, though he should be back by March.
"The pain is disabling during long physical efforts," said Cosnefroy in a statement. "It should be better to wait. I'll continue to train to be competitive in March races."
The 25-year-old, who won the under-23 road race at the Bergen World Championships in 2017, has improved year on year after turning pro with the French squad in 2018. He has nine pro wins to his name – all in France – including the Tour du Limousin and Paris-Camembert in 2019, and the GP Marseillaise last season.
2020 also saw Cosnefroy announce himself as a major player in the hilly Classics, finishing second at La Flèche Wallonne and Paris-Tours, and third at Brabantse Pijl after a late battle with world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Dutch superstar Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix).
He'll target Ardennes week this spring as his team retools to focus on the Classics after the departures of GC men Romain Bardet and Pierre Latour.
Perennial cobbled contender Greg Van Avermaet has joined on a three-year deal, while 2018 Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Bob Jungels has also signed up, joining Cosnefroy and Oliver Naesen to form a strong Classics core.
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Daniel Ostanek has been a staff writer at Cyclingnews since August 2019, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later part-time production editor. Before Cyclingnews, he was published in numerous publications around the cycling world, including Procycling, CyclingWeekly, CyclingTips, Cyclist, and Rouleur, among others. As well as reporting and writing news and features, Daniel runs the 'How to watch' content throughout the season.
Daniel has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, and has interviewed a number of the sport's biggest stars, including Egan Bernal, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Mark Cavendish, and Anna van der Breggen. Daniel rides a 2002 Landbouwkrediet Colnago C40 and his favourite races are Strade Bianche and the Vuelta a España.