George Bennett was spurred to victory at the national road cycling championship in Cambridge on Sunday by the lure of the silver fern.
George Bennett Photo: Photosport
Bennett, who rides for World Tour team Jumbo Visma, trailed the leaders by four minutes at one stage but stormed home over the last 10km to take the title.
The 30-year-old Nelson-born cyclist says he was worried he'd left himself too much to do at the business end of the 174km, four-lap course.
But he nailed a convincing win, clocking 4hr 15min 17.41sec to finish 1min 48sec clear of second placed Mark Stewart, who outsprinted Michael Torckler for silver.
Bennett says the chance to wear the national jersey on the grand tours in Europe was a huge motivation.
"In the final kilometres, I was thinking a lot about wearing the fern in Europe," he said.
"I was running out of legs, but I just kept thinking about wearing the fern and all the support that's out there, and just representing New Zealand this year in the Giro and all the big races coming up.
"It's not the biggest race on my calendar, the nationals, but it is a really important race to me - especially if you win."
In the earlier women's race, held over a three-lap, 130km course, Georgia Williams - who also won the national time trial title on Friday - sprinted clear of Kate McCarthy for a narrow win.
Williams, who won silver on the road at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, clocked 3hr 47min 11sec. Sharlotte Lucas was a distant third, nearly 39 minutes later.
Williams, 27, who rides for Australian outfit Team Bike Exchange on the Women's World Tour, said she'd been on edge in finding the right time to unleash her sprint.
"It was in the back of my mind to go early because if I waited too long the sprinters might have been able to hang on," she said.
"I was a little bit uncertain that maybe I had gone a little bit too early but I knew Kate was super-strong and we would be OK."
"It is great for my team as well for me to win both jerseys and it's a real honour to take them on to the WorldTour again."
Williams and Bennett made late decisions to head home for the summer, both getting out of managed isolation before Christmas, giving a limited build-up for the championships.