Jonas Vingegaard announced on Friday that he was pulling out of making his season debut at the UAE Tour later this month after suffering a crash in training in January.
The two-time Tour de France winner crashed on 26 January while trying to shake off an amateur cyclist in the Malaga region in southern Spain.
"I was really looking forward to returning to the UAE Tour and am therefore disappointed that we have had to make this decision," said the 29-year-old Dane in a statement from his Visma–Lease a Bike team.
"However, the combination of the crash and subsequent illness made it necessary.
"It is better to fully recover first so that I can then focus on my next goals."
He could now start his season at the Tour of Catalunya at the end of March, unless he adds another race to his schedule, before turning to his first major objective, the Giro d'Italia in May.
That will be followed by the Tour de France in July.
Vingegaard crashed on a descent after accelerating to drop an amateur who was following him, a phenomenon more and more professional cyclists have been complaining about.
His team issued a call for cycling fans to let riders train and to give them as much space as necessary.