Proud Brownlee returns to score magnificent triumph in Madrid

Having not raced a triathlon since winning the world title last September and being sidelined with a stress fracture in his thigh for the early part of the season, Dewsbury-born Brownlee claimed victory in a time of one hour, 52 minutes and 41 seconds.

The 22-year-old was fifth after the swim and joined a breakaway group including Olympic champion Jon Frodeno and series leader Alexander Brukhanov on the rolling bike course.

The leaders built a lead of a minute on the chasing pack and Australia's Courtney Atkinson took an early lead in the run with Brownlee on his shoulder.

The two led the run all the way but Brownlee sprinted clear with around 500m to go, finishing 10 seconds ahead of Atkinson with Sven Riederer of Switzerland third.

Brownlee said: "I definitely wasn't expecting to win. (Yesterday's) victory overshadows anything that I achieved last year. This is by far the proudest victory I've ever had after what I've been through in the last couple of months.

"I was running for second place but with 500m to go I gave it everything I had.

"I looked back and couldn't believe the gap that had opened up. I had to give it everything to win. I really wanted the break to work at the start of the bike leg.

"I like this course because it finds the all-round athletes who want to work hard on the hill every time. The guys who went for it today got into a break and it worked."

Great Britain team-mates Will Clarke and Olly Freeman finished 12th and 13th respectively.