Brownlee lays down Rio triathlon marker

Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee showed he is in great shape to defend his title in Rio de Janeiro in August with an emphatic win in a world series race in Leeds on Sunday.

Briton Brownlee broke clear of brother Jonny at the start of the running stage and surged to victory over his younger sibling by 32 seconds, with Australian Aaron Royle finishing third ahead of world champion Javier Sanchez of Spain in fourth.

"Thank you Leeds, the people absolutely made it today. We had support like I've never known it," Alistair Brownlee told reporters after claiming his 20th world series title and first for more than a year.

"I think we've shown that Leeds loves sport, that's by far the best world series crowd there's ever been."

American world champion Gwen Jorgensen won the women's race, coming from behind at the start of the run to overhaul world series leader Flora Duffy of Bermuda.