diff --git a/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/BUILD.bazel b/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/BUILD.bazel
index 2fe103f93115..4fb5df42e3b1 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/BUILD.bazel
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ go_test(
         "multiregion_test.go",
         "region_test.go",
         "regional_by_row_test.go",
+        "roundtrips_test.go",
         "show_test.go",
     ],
     deps = [
@@ -39,6 +40,8 @@ go_test(
         "//pkg/jobs",
         "//pkg/keys",
         "//pkg/kv",
+        "//pkg/kv/kvbase",
+        "//pkg/kv/kvclient/kvcoord",
         "//pkg/kv/kvserver",
         "//pkg/roachpb",
         "//pkg/security",
@@ -58,6 +61,7 @@ go_test(
         "//pkg/util/log",
         "//pkg/util/randutil",
         "//pkg/util/syncutil",
+        "//pkg/util/tracing",
         "@com_github_cockroachdb_errors//:errors",
         "@com_github_stretchr_testify//require",
     ],
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/multiregionccltestutils/testutils.go b/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/multiregionccltestutils/testutils.go
index 329eb043614f..70840e16f393 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/multiregionccltestutils/testutils.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/multiregionccltestutils/testutils.go
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 type multiRegionTestClusterParams struct {
-	baseDir string
+	baseDir         string
+	replicationMode base.TestClusterReplicationMode
 }
 
 // MultiRegionTestClusterParamsOption is an option that can be passed to
@@ -36,6 +37,16 @@ func WithBaseDirectory(baseDir string) MultiRegionTestClusterParamsOption {
 	}
 }
 
+// WithReplicationMode is an option to control the replication mode for the
+// created multi-region cluster.
+func WithReplicationMode(
+	replicationMode base.TestClusterReplicationMode,
+) MultiRegionTestClusterParamsOption {
+	return func(params *multiRegionTestClusterParams) {
+		params.replicationMode = replicationMode
+	}
+}
+
 // TestingCreateMultiRegionCluster creates a test cluster with numServers number
 // of nodes and the provided testing knobs applied to each of the nodes. Every
 // node is placed in its own locality, named "us-east1", "us-east2", and so on.
@@ -65,6 +76,7 @@ func TestingCreateMultiRegionCluster(
 	}
 
 	tc := testcluster.StartTestCluster(t, numServers, base.TestClusterArgs{
+		ReplicationMode:   params.replicationMode,
 		ServerArgsPerNode: serverArgs,
 	})
 
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/roundtrips_test.go b/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/roundtrips_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..19d0b0522190
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/roundtrips_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+// Copyright 2021 The Cockroach Authors.
+//
+// Licensed as a CockroachDB Enterprise file under the Cockroach Community
+// License (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+// the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     https://github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/blob/master/licenses/CCL.txt
+
+package multiregionccl_test
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/base"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/ccl/multiregionccl/multiregionccltestutils"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/keys"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv/kvbase"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv/kvclient/kvcoord"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachpb"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/sql"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/leaktest"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/tracing"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// TestEnsureLocalReadsOnGlobalTables ensures that all present time reads on
+// GLOBAL tables don't incur a network hop.
+func TestEnsureLocalReadsOnGlobalTables(t *testing.T) {
+	defer leaktest.AfterTest(t)()
+
+	// ensureOnlyLocalReads looks at a trace to ensure that reads were served
+	// locally. It returns true if the read was served as a follower read.
+	ensureOnlyLocalReads := func(t *testing.T, rec tracing.Recording) (servedUsingFollowerReads bool) {
+		for _, sp := range rec {
+			if sp.Operation == "dist sender send" {
+				require.True(t, tracing.LogsContainMsg(sp, kvbase.RoutingRequestLocallyMsg),
+					"query was not served locally: %s", rec)
+
+				// Check the child span to find out if the query was served using a
+				// follower read.
+				for _, span := range rec {
+					if span.ParentSpanID == sp.SpanID {
+						if tracing.LogsContainMsg(span, kvbase.FollowerReadServingMsg) {
+							servedUsingFollowerReads = true
+						}
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		return servedUsingFollowerReads
+	}
+
+	presentTimeRead := `SELECT * FROM t.test_table WHERE k=2`
+	recCh := make(chan tracing.Recording, 1)
+
+	knobs := base.TestingKnobs{
+		SQLExecutor: &sql.ExecutorTestingKnobs{
+			WithStatementTrace: func(trace tracing.Recording, stmt string) {
+				if stmt == presentTimeRead {
+					recCh <- trace
+				}
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	numServers := 3
+	tc, sqlDB, cleanup := multiregionccltestutils.TestingCreateMultiRegionCluster(
+		t, numServers, knobs, multiregionccltestutils.WithReplicationMode(base.ReplicationManual),
+	)
+	defer cleanup()
+
+	_, err := sqlDB.Exec(`CREATE DATABASE t PRIMARY REGION "us-east1" REGIONS "us-east2", "us-east3"`)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	_, err = sqlDB.Exec(`CREATE TABLE t.test_table (k INT PRIMARY KEY) LOCALITY GLOBAL`)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	// Set up some write traffic in the background.
+	errCh := make(chan error)
+	stopWritesCh := make(chan struct{})
+	go func() {
+		i := 0
+		for {
+			select {
+			case <-stopWritesCh:
+				errCh <- nil
+				return
+			case <-time.After(10 * time.Millisecond):
+				_, err := sqlDB.Exec(`INSERT INTO t.test_table VALUES($1)`, i)
+				i++
+				if err != nil {
+					errCh <- err
+					return
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}()
+
+	var tableID uint32
+	err = sqlDB.QueryRow(`SELECT id from system.namespace WHERE name='test_table'`).Scan(&tableID)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	tablePrefix := keys.MustAddr(keys.SystemSQLCodec.TablePrefix(tableID))
+	// Split the range at the start of the table and add a voter to all nodes in
+	// the cluster.
+	tc.SplitRangeOrFatal(t, tablePrefix.AsRawKey())
+	tc.AddVotersOrFatal(t, tablePrefix.AsRawKey(), tc.Target(1), tc.Target(2))
+
+	for i := 0; i < numServers; i++ {
+		// Run a query to populate its cache.
+		conn := tc.ServerConn(i)
+		_, err = conn.Exec("SELECT * from t.test_table WHERE k=1")
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		// Check that the cache was indeed populated.
+		cache := tc.Server(i).DistSenderI().(*kvcoord.DistSender).RangeDescriptorCache()
+		entry := cache.GetCached(context.Background(), tablePrefix, false /* inverted */)
+		require.NotNil(t, entry.Lease().Empty())
+		require.NotNil(t, entry)
+		require.Equal(t, roachpb.LEAD_FOR_GLOBAL_READS, entry.ClosedTimestampPolicy())
+		isLeaseHolder := entry.Lease().Replica.NodeID == tc.Server(i).NodeID()
+
+		// Run the query to ensure local read.
+		_, err = conn.Exec(presentTimeRead)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		rec := <-recCh
+		followerRead := ensureOnlyLocalReads(t, rec)
+
+		// Expect every non-leaseholder to serve a (local) follower read. The
+		// leaseholder on the other hand won't serve a follower read.
+		require.Equal(t, !isLeaseHolder, followerRead)
+	}
+
+	close(stopWritesCh)
+	writeErr := <-errCh
+	require.NoError(t, writeErr)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/kv/kvbase/constants.go b/pkg/kv/kvbase/constants.go
index 7d0fdfc714bb..e0a185c32f2a 100644
--- a/pkg/kv/kvbase/constants.go
+++ b/pkg/kv/kvbase/constants.go
@@ -13,3 +13,7 @@ package kvbase
 // FollowerReadServingMsg is a log message that needs to be used for tests in
 // other packages.
 const FollowerReadServingMsg = "serving via follower read"
+
+// RoutingRequestLocallyMsg is a log message that needs to be used for tests in
+// other packages.
+const RoutingRequestLocallyMsg = "sending request to local client"
diff --git a/pkg/rpc/nodedialer/BUILD.bazel b/pkg/rpc/nodedialer/BUILD.bazel
index b4cf69f441be..2705eb0535df 100644
--- a/pkg/rpc/nodedialer/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pkg/rpc/nodedialer/BUILD.bazel
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ go_library(
     importpath = "github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/rpc/nodedialer",
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
     deps = [
+        "//pkg/kv/kvbase",
         "//pkg/kv/kvserver/closedts",
         "//pkg/kv/kvserver/closedts/ctpb",
         "//pkg/roachpb",
diff --git a/pkg/rpc/nodedialer/nodedialer.go b/pkg/rpc/nodedialer/nodedialer.go
index b395df72eafd..1d42d308d557 100644
--- a/pkg/rpc/nodedialer/nodedialer.go
+++ b/pkg/rpc/nodedialer/nodedialer.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 	"unsafe"
 
 	circuit "github.com/cockroachdb/circuitbreaker"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv/kvbase"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv/kvserver/closedts"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv/kvserver/closedts/ctpb"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachpb"
@@ -121,7 +122,7 @@ func (n *Dialer) DialInternalClient(
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
 	if localClient := n.rpcContext.GetLocalInternalClientForAddr(addr.String(), nodeID); localClient != nil {
-		log.VEvent(ctx, 2, "sending request to local client")
+		log.VEvent(ctx, 2, kvbase.RoutingRequestLocallyMsg)
 
 		// Create a new context from the existing one with the "local request" field set.
 		// This tells the handler that this is an in-process request, bypassing ctx.Peer checks.