photo by: Mike Yoder

Joseph Schmalz crosses the finish line to win the Men's Pro race of the 2016 Tour of Lawrence Downtown Criterium Race, Sunday, July 17, 2016.

Joseph Schmalz finished his weekend at the eighth-annual Tour of Lawrence by slapping hands with spectators as he cruised toward the finish line on Sunday.

The hometown cyclist had plenty of reasons to celebrate.

One day after winning Haskell’s campus criterium, Schmalz swept the weekend by winning the Free State Brewery Downtown Criterium among men’s professional racers. Jennifer Sharp, of Boulder, Colo., completed the same feat in the women’s pro races.

It was the first time Schmalz, a 2008 graduate from Free State High, won the downtown criterium.

“I’ve always been second or third,” Schmalz said. “I’ve never been able to win it. It was good to finally get the win down here.”

Schmalz won in dominant fashion. In the first third of the race, Schmalz and five other cyclists — including two of his Elevate Pro Cycling teammates — separated themselves from the rest of the field.

By the halfway point of the 75-minute race, the group of six led by more than a minute over all of the other competitors. Eventually, the lead pack whittled down to four racers and Schmalz pulled away with two laps to go for a 19-second victory over teammate Connor Brown, of Grandview, Mo.

Schmalz and the lead group lapped nearly all of the other racers with about 10 laps remaining.

“Today we knew with the heat, if we had numbers in a group like that, we’re tactically far superior,” the 26-year-old Schmalz said. “It eases off the pressure because it’s so hot, you know everyone is going to get tired, and you have the numbers. It works out really well in the end.”

The criterium involved a one-mile circuit around the north end of downtown, including a figure-8 loop with a main straightaway down Massachusetts Street.

For Schmalz, it was a proud accomplishment to win his hometown’s signature race for the first time.

“We get to race right down Mass, so it doesn’t get much better than that,” Schmalz said. “The last corner is the Sunflower bike shop that I go into once a week. I’ve lived here my whole life, so it’s pretty awesome to race right down Mass.”

Sharp, who was competing in the Tour of Lawrence for the first time this weekend, sprinted ahead of the main pack in the final laps and held her ground for her second win in as many days.

She said the biggest key was conserving more energy than she did in Saturday’s race on Haskell’s campus because of the heat.

“It couldn’t have gone better, really,” Sharp said. “It’s super awesome. The town of Lawrence has been amazing and the race organizers who have put everything on. Like I’m looking forward to next year already.”