After being on many of the provisional startlists for the Classics, Peter Kennaugh’s name has been removed and he has not raced. Team Sky has been very quiet as to why the rider hasn’t been at the races.

He has now spoken in his column in The Telegraph as to why he hasn’t ridden any races since helping Chris Froome win the Ruta del Sol in February. He has suffered a recurrence of the sacroiliac joint injury that he first suffered prior to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

“I started riding again last week and plan to have a couple more weeks building the fitness back up,” Kennaugh wrote in his Telegraph column. “Hopefully I’ll do the Ardennes Classics in mid-April – which were a big target of mine at the start of the year, although realistically it will be beyond my power to get a result there now.”

He now hopes to make his return in the Ardennes Classics two weeks today for Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He also hopes to ride at Team Sky’s altitude camp in Tenerife in June, which he has described as key in making the Tour de France squad.

He says he hasn’t enjoyed not being in the races, but seeing his Sky teammates succeeding has helped him over the past few weeks.

“Watching Geraint Thomas, Ben Swift and Luke Rowe lead the field at Milan-San Remo… was a massive boost. These are guys I have come through the ranks with. I’ve said it before but it really feels as if we have arrived as a group now.”