AG2R Citroën leader Benoit Cosnefrois has been forced to postpone the start of the 2021 campaign due to a knee injury.

The Frenchman, who was scheduled to start the year by defending his Etoile de Besseges title on February 3, has been suffering from knee pain for the past 10 days, according to a team announcement.

Medical checks did not reveal any lesions or damage, but as a result his training schedule was changed.

Kosnefroe's expected return date to racing has not yet been announced, but he should be back by March.

"Pain can interfere with prolonged physical effort. Better to wait and I will continue training so I can compete in the March race."

The 25-year-old, who won the under-23 road race at the Bergen World Championships in 2017, has improved every year since turning pro with the French team in 2018; he has nine professional wins, including the Tour du Limousin and Paris Camembert in 2019 and GP Marseillaise last season ( (all in France).

Also in 2020, he will be second in La Flèche Wallonne and Paris-Tours, and in Brabantspaille, he will be joined by world champion Julien Alaphilippe (Detuninck-Quick Step) and Dutch superstar Mathieu van der Pol ( After a late battle with Alpecin Phoenix), Cosnefrois finished third, establishing himself as a major player in the hill classics.

He will target the Ardennes Week this spring as the team focuses on the Classic after the departure of Romain Bardet and Pierre Latour.

Longtime cobbled contender Greg Van Avermaat joins the team on a three-year deal, and 2018 Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner Bob Jungels has also signed, forming a strong Classics nucleus with Kosnefrois and Oliver Naessen.