Edvald Boasson Hagen will delay the start to his 2018 season for Dimension Data after undergoing an operation to remove his gallbladder.
The 30-year-old Norwegian told Procycling.no that he was suffering from stomach pain after his recent wedding.
He visited the doctors the day before he was due to fly out to a training camp, and the diagnosis was made. Further tests at the Ullevål Hospital in Oslo concluded that he had an inflamed gallbladder, and it was subsequently removed.
Boasson Hagen will sit-out Dimension Data's current early-season training camp in Calpe, Spain, and will miss riding the Vuelta Ciclista a la Comunidad Valenciana.
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He will seek to start his season in February at the Volta ao Algarve and get back to peak fitness for the Classics.
"The race in Valencia is not the most important thing on the calendar, so I'm really glad that this happened now," Boasson Hagen told Procycling.no.
"There is no reason to go around with a defective gallbladder. I still believe I will come into the Classics in good shape."
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Boasson Hagen enjoyed a successful 2017 season for South African team Dimension Data, winning stage 19 of the Tour de France and claiming overall victories in the Tour des Fjords and Tour of Norway.
He also claimed a stage of the Tour of Britain on his way to finishing second overall – he has previously won the Tour of Britain in 2009 and 2015.
Boasson Hagen got married to Marlen Kristiansen in Oslo in the first week of January. According to Norwegian press, Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas, Lars Petter Nordhaug and Kurt Asle Arvesen were all present at the ceremony.
