diff --git a/build/teamcity/internal/cockroach/nightlies/private_roachtest_impl.sh b/build/teamcity/internal/cockroach/nightlies/private_roachtest_impl.sh
index 5f97df3853f1..5caffc129618 100755
--- a/build/teamcity/internal/cockroach/nightlies/private_roachtest_impl.sh
+++ b/build/teamcity/internal/cockroach/nightlies/private_roachtest_impl.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,11 @@ set -exuo pipefail
 
 dir="$(dirname $(dirname $(dirname $(dirname $(dirname "${0}")))))"
 
+# N.B. export variables like `root` s.t. they can be used by scripts called below.
+set -a
 source "$dir/teamcity-support.sh"
+set +a
+
 if [[ ! -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub ]]; then
   ssh-keygen -q -C "private-roachtest-nightly-bazel $(date)" -N "" -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa
 fi
diff --git a/pkg/kv/kvclient/kvcoord/dist_sender_server_test.go b/pkg/kv/kvclient/kvcoord/dist_sender_server_test.go
index e7d75eadaed4..097f19d6dc96 100644
--- a/pkg/kv/kvclient/kvcoord/dist_sender_server_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kv/kvclient/kvcoord/dist_sender_server_test.go
@@ -4836,6 +4836,9 @@ func TestProxyTracing(t *testing.T) {
 		kvserver.OverrideDefaultLeaseType(ctx, &st.SV, leaseType)
 		kvserver.RangefeedEnabled.Override(ctx, &st.SV, true)
 		kvserver.RangeFeedRefreshInterval.Override(ctx, &st.SV, 10*time.Millisecond)
+		// Disable follower reads to ensure that the request is proxied, and not
+		// answered locally due to follower reads.
+		kvserver.FollowerReadsEnabled.Override(ctx, &st.SV, false)
 		closedts.TargetDuration.Override(ctx, &st.SV, 10*time.Millisecond)
 		closedts.SideTransportCloseInterval.Override(ctx, &st.SV, 10*time.Millisecond)