Some of the country's best cyclists sped through Knoxville over the weekend for the 2017 USA Cycling Pro Road and Time Trial National Championships.
Hotels, restaurants and more were packed on the weekend of the race, and the head of USA Cycling Derek Bouchard said the event exceeded all expectations.
Visit Knoxville said the event was a big success, saying the event gave Knoxville a lot of national exposure with the YouTube stream of the race being watched more than 50,000 times.
It's the first time Knoxville hosted the elite races.
The amateur and men's and women's pro time trial races were Saturday, and the pro men's and women's road race championships were Sunday.
About 100 men and 75 women pro-cyclists hit the course in the road races. The route started in the Old City and wound through the steep hills of Sherrod Road in South Knoxville.
The women’s race began at 9 a.m Sunday. They completed 67.4 miles in eight laps. Amber Neben, 42, of Lake Forest, California, finished first. She started training for the race back in December.
"I have no words for it," Neben said. "It's so crazy cool to win solo back-to-back titles."
She also took first place in the women's time trial on Saturday.
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The event brought both racers and spectators from all over the country. People lined the streets of the Old City, cheering on some of the top athletes in the sport.
"When we heard that the US Pros was coming to our town, Knoxville, it was so exciting," said Julie Timms, of Knoxville.
As an avid fan of the sport, she started cheering on cyclists 10 years ago.
"We have friends all over Twitter, all over the country, and we meet up at US Pros every year," she said.
The friends starting sharing their love of the sport over Twitter. This year, Timms hosted a group of 20 friends for the race. Rhonda Wagner came all the way from Arkansas.
"There were three of us that basically twittered through the Tour de France for multiple years and you feel like you know each other," Wagner said.
Some fans came all the way from Chicago.
"It's a great way to explore cities," Bob Oppenheim said. "We've met people from around the world cycling."
"It's just so fun to be here cheering and to see it in our town and to see our town be exposed to cycling," Timms said.
Larry Warbasse won first place in the men's race.