It’s summer already and I have more reasons than one to be happy about saying goodbye to spring and to be looking forward to the warm months ahead.

I have had a difficult and disappointing start to the racing season but things turn and I have spent the past fortnight getting to the bottom of what has been affecting my form.

The Ardennes classics were supposed to be my first goal of the year but it was a pretty frustrating week all round. I knew going into Amstel Gold that I was below where I wanted to be and you can’t go well in those races when you are not 100 per cent.

I got some blood tests done a few days before Liege-Bastogne-Liege and they showed that I was fatigued so I was told by the team doctor to take a few days off.

I struggled through Liege as best I could and then came straight home to Donegal and took five days off. I have been taking it easy and the rest has left me feeling a whole left better.