It came after the 17-year-old claimed his first senior handicap race win a fortnight ago at the Burnie Wheel titles.

The Northern Districts Cycling Club member zoomed home in 24:26:34 minutes for the time trial which was more than 24 seconds faster than his nearest competitor.

READ MORE: JackJumpers to return to training following COVID outbreak

He considers the victory his most significant to date.

"[This sits] definitely up the top," he said.

"I won a track individual pursuit national title last year but road cycling is definitely my favourite discipline and this is the main event I've been focusing on because I just love all the technology behind time trialling.

"To get this one gives me a good shot at going to the junior worlds later on in the year in Wollongong."

It was a massive turnaround for the teenager who came second last in same event at Ballarat last year.

He explained it was tough from the outset in 2021 as his rear dropout bolt snapped which caused his wheel to rub against the breaks the whole way.

"A massive thanks to Mum and Dad after last year in the same event I had a mechanical (problem) pretty much straight off the start line which ruined my race," he said.

"This year they've thrown a lot of money at a new bike for me and I've got a lot of people helping me out with my set up so I really can't be more thankful for them for putting all that together to give me the best chance of winning an event."

The young gun said it was a tough ride on Wednesday despite his lengthy winning margin.

"It was super tough today compared to other years, it was quite windy, it was super hot as well," he said.

"The junior gearing is super hard to push on the way out, there was a cross tailwind constantly spinning out the junior gears.

"But it was good to turn around and come home, it was more of a headwind so you could push on a bit harder.

"I can't really believe it, the time was up there with the winners of previous years so it's a good sign."

McKenzie's victory came on the back of a mountain of hard work, including plenty of time trial efforts.

"It's like 16-18 hours, 450-500 kilometres a week," he said.

"At the institute of sport in Tassie I've been doing the aero testing as well on my time trial bike just to get in the most aerodynamic position as possible on my bike."

McKenzie has the criterium on Friday and road race on Saturday as part of the championships this week.

"The road race is always tough, I'm a little bit heavier than the pure climbers, so my aim is to try and get over the top of them and bring it to a sprint which favours me most at the finish line," he said.

"It's definitely going to be tough."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: