The final USA Cycling Professional Road National Championship race of the weekend finished up in downtown Knoxville Sunday evening.
Jonny Brown won Sunday's peloton race for the men, and Coryn Rivera won for the women.
People who lived in Knoxville and people who came to watch from outside the state alike said they'd like to see the event return to the area.
Fans young and old crowded the 7.9 mile loop through north, south and downtown Knoxville for the peloton race Sunday.
Pro women rode just less than 72 miles, and pro men rode just less than 120 miles, all in the span of a few hours.
Local Knoxville cyclists like Casey Field loved seeing the professionals racing in her hometown.
"It's a huge deal," Field said. "I don't know how Visit Knoxville did this, but I am so grateful."
Visit Knoxville brought the national championship race to Knoxville for the first time last year, did it again this year; and might push for a third time in 2019.
Field said watching the race last year inspired her to ride her bike more, and try out the course for herself. She's explored Knoxville on her bike, and is glad others are getting that same experience
"I feel like Knoxville is able to show off what we have which is amazing stuff," Field said.
Out-of-towners admitted the same thing; Knoxville's "stuff," as Field put it, is pretty amazing.
"We had friends that recommended the epic experience and brought us up here," Michael Leggett, who lives in Atlanta, said. He and his friend, Damon Utsey, are cyclists in town watch the race.
"The course is beautiful," Leggett said. "We had a chance to ride it a little bit yesterday and, yeah, overall the little loop that's here is perfect."
Utsey agreed.
"It's nice to see cycling and racing represented here in the southeast," he said..
USA Cycling VPO Chuck Hodge said the organization is looking to bring the race back to Knoxville in 2019 for a third year.
Field said she's already looking forward to it.
"Knoxville feels like it was made for this sort of thing," she said.