Brilliant Brownlee claims comeback win in Madrid

AFTER watching frustrated from the sidelines, Alistair Brownlee wasted little time in stamping down his authority on his return to action at the Madrid leg of the ITU World Triathlon Championship Series.

BRILLIANT: Alistair Brownlee has only been hard training for four weeks but he stunned his rival to claim World Championship Series gold in Madrid (onEdition)

Last year's overall winner missed the first two races of the season after a stress fracture picked up during off-season training in wintry Yorkshire.

But with the blazing Spanish sun on his back, he proved that he is the man to beat, clocking one hour, 52 minutes and 39 seconds to take gold.

He was well placed on the bike and swim, helping set the pace along with younger brother Jonathan.

In-form Australian Courtney Atkinson kept Brownlee company throughout the concluding run but the world champion struck out alone within sight of the finish, winning by a ten-second margin.

Switzerland's Sven Riederier claimed third while home hope Javier Gomez was a disappointing fourth.

“I never thought I could win, I just was hoping to get on the podium,” admitted Brownlee.

“That win overshadows anything I did last year, it’s the proudest victory that I’ve ever had because I had to fight so hard for it.

“I thought I was running for second place but with 500m to go I gave it everything I had - and thankfully it was enough.

“This is such a great course for triathlon, it’s an all-around challenge and I love racing here.”