The Herald-Sun tour is generally considered less prestigious than the Tour Down Under, which was held in Adelaide in January, but Froome said he liked to begin his season later in the year.

His son, Kellan, was born in December and Froome said he had also wanted to spend more time with the newborn before starting to race again.

He said he had been training well during winter in the northern hemisphere and, more recently, in Adelaide.

"It's been almost five months now since my last race, so I'm not too sure what to expect really," Froome said.

"This week will be a good test for me to see where I'm at and hopefully we get some good riding in at the same time."

Froome said he knew very little about the tour; the last time he competed, the course was different.

"That's actually something quite exciting about coming down here, racing against guys I don't really know because they're not over on the pro-tour ... it could be an interesting week, to keep track of everybody and see who we're really up against," he said.

Australian young gun Caleb Ewan won two stages of the event in 2015 and two stages of the most recent Tour Down Under, and said he was hoping to win at least one stage of this week's race.

The 21-year-old has impressed with his extremely low sprinting position, where his head is actually below the line of the handlebars.

"I've got pretty good form and my speed's there as well, so there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to get another win here," he said.

Froome said he had not been paid to compete.