diff --git a/docs/contributing/testing.md b/docs/contributing/testing.md
index d8e07f1c85..d4311240eb 100644
--- a/docs/contributing/testing.md
+++ b/docs/contributing/testing.md
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ See [Conformance Testing in Kubernetes](https://github.com/kubernetes/community/
 
 ### Running against a new cluster
 
-By adding the `--up` flag, `kubetest2` will spin up a new cluster. In most cases, you also need to add a few additional flags, such as `--networking`. See `kubetest2 kops --help` for the full list.
+By adding the `--up` flag, `kubetest2` will spin up a new cluster. Flags can be passed to the `kops create cluster` command via the `--create-args` flag. In most cases, you also need to add a few additional flags. See `kubetest2 kops --help` for the full list.
 
 ```shell
 kubetest2 kops \
@@ -72,9 +72,9 @@ kubetest2 kops \
   --up \
   --cloud-provider=aws \
   --cluster-name=my.testcluster.com \
+  --create-args="--networking calico" \
   --kops-binary-path=${KOPS_ROOT}/bazel-bin/cmd/kops/linux-amd64/kops \
   --kubernetes-version=v1.20.2 \
-  --networking calico \
   --test=kops \
   --
   -- \
diff --git a/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/deployer.go b/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/deployer.go
index f401051365..5ec019085c 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/deployer.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/deployer.go
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ type deployer struct {
 	Env            []string `flag:"env" desc:"Additional env vars to set for kops commands in NAME=VALUE format"`
 	CreateArgs     string   `flag:"create-args" desc:"Extra space-separated arguments passed to 'kops create cluster'"`
 	KopsBinaryPath string   `flag:"kops-binary-path" desc:"The path to kops executable used for testing"`
-	Networking     string   `flag:"networking" desc:"The networking mode to use"`
 	StateStore     string   `flag:"-"`
 
 	TemplatePath string `flag:"template-path" desc:"The path to the manifest template used for cluster creation"`
diff --git a/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/up.go b/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/up.go
index a34ffcf9f2..e42cdce081 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/up.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/up.go
@@ -125,10 +125,6 @@ func (d *deployer) createCluster(zones []string, adminAccess string) error {
 		args = append(args, "--master-size", "s-8vcpu-16gb")
 	}
 
-	if d.Networking != "" {
-		args = append(args, "--networking", d.Networking)
-	}
-
 	if d.CreateArgs != "" {
 		// TODO: we should only set the above flags if they're not in CreateArgs
 		// allowing any flag to be overridden