Tour leader Kristin Armstrong piled on the pressure, both on herself and her opposition, going into the final day of the women's cycle Tour of New Zealand today.
With two stages of the six-stage tour remaining, Armstrong (Cervelo Lifeforce) held a slender 11-second lead over Australian Oenone Wood (Team High Road).
But an outstanding 6.5km time trial into the teeth of a vicious northerly around Wellington's southern bays this morning saw the American extend her lead to 23sec going into this afternoon's final stage.
A safety-first approach to the 45km criterium around Wellington's central business district saw Armstrong maintain that margin to secure the yellow jersey for good.
The 2006 world time trial champion admitted afterwards to using a bit of self-induced pressure to motivate herself for the time trial.
"I was definitely feeling some pressure this morning. I didn't sleep too well last night - I had a little bit on my mind," Armstrong said.
"I owed my team, they've been working so hard for me all week, I really needed to give them that back.
"My girls did such a great job today protecting the yellow jersey, and I couldn't have won this Tour of New Zealand without them.
"I felt like they'd done everything they could for me all week, so today in the individual time trial I had to do it on my own for them."
The last rider out in this morning's time trial, Armstrong blitzed from Seatoun wharf around Moa Point to Lyall Bay in 9min 39sec, averaging just over 40kmh. Teammate Karin Thurig was next fastest, 10 seconds down, followed by Wood a further two seconds astray.
Going into the final criterium, Armstrong was again relying on her teammates for protection as the 80-plus field wound around a tight circuit at speeds of over 40kmh.
"I knew they'd be there for me 100 percent. It's such a team sport out there, and we're such a strong unit,
"This is going to give us a lot of energy going into our European campaign in about three weeks."
Cocooned in the peloton for much of the race, Armstrong avoided the crash which took down Australians Carly Hibberd and Tiffany Cromwell early on, although both riders recovered to finish midfield.
Armstrong and Wood tracked each other throughout the race, and both finished at 45sec down on winner Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Team High Road).
The German, who won the same stage last year, led a six-strong breakaway 15 minutes into the hour-long race, including opening criterium winner Suzanne de Goede (Equipe Nurnberger, Netherlands) and Queen of the Mountains Lorian Graham (Team VV, Australia).
American Brooke Miller, Armstrong's Cervelo teammate Patricia Duster, and Canadian Alex Wrubleski also made the break which at one stage threatened to lap the peloton.
Sprint champion Katherine Carroll (US) and Denmark's Linda Villumsen caught the leading six, and the stage came down to a final furious sprint to the line. Teutenberg got the judge's nod for the stage win, clocking 1hr 03min with de Goede, Duster, Miller and Graham on the same time.
The 33-year-old German rider said afterwards this could possibly be her last Tour of New Zealand, with thoughts of retirement not far from her mind.
Graham won the Queen of the Mountains title, Carroll took sprint honours and the team title went to Team High Road.
Serena Sheridan was the best of the New Zealanders, 7min 29sec down on the winner in 18th place, with Rachel Mercer 22nd at 9min 21sec.