He did it in perfect style, slowing to a trot to cross the line after edging out fast finishing Joao Silva of Portugal in 1 hour 48min 42sec, while Ukrainian-born Azerbaijani Rostyslav Pevtsov took bronze.

Benson, the 21-year-old from Leeds,whose best achievement going into the race was third at last year's World Under-23 Championships, has spent most of his career in the shadow of training partners Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, the brothers who chose to skip this race to focus on the World Triathlon Series season.

But, after some strong performances on the world circuit, he always seemed on the cusp of something big and today as unofficial leader of the team, he had a perfect opportunity.

After sitting in the pack for the swimming leg, team mates Phil Graves and Tom Bishop attacked and attacked on the bike, frequently being hauled back but ultimately succeeding in dragging a group of nine athletes clear, including Benson and Slovakia's Richard Varga, the leader after the swim.

Crucially, most of the other favourites, including Spanish world number three Fernando Alarza, were stuck in the second group and it was always going to be hard to bridge the gap.

Benson quickly whittled the lead group down to three, with only Turkey's Jonas Schomberg and Switzerland's Andrea Salvisberg for company and, with a lovely relaxed and loping step, he began to open daylight, creating a 28 second lead by the end of the second of three 3.33 kilometres laps.

With Schomberg and Salvisberg visibly slowing with every stride, the result looked sown up, only for Silva and Pevtshov to start a remarkable fightback from the second group on the bike. 

Portugal's Silva, a World Triathlon Series winner in Yokohama in 2012, was running relentlessly, coming from 50 seconds down on Benson with a lap to go to be within site entering the finishing stretch.

But the Briton hung on - just - to win by 11 seconds, with the adopted Azeri a further 22 seconds back. 

Varga, Schomberg and Salvisberg were fifth, sixth and ninth respectively, with Bishop 16th and an exhausted Graves 46th, but Benson was keen to praise his team mates afterwards.

"It’s brilliant," he said.

"I couldn’t have done it without the lads, Phil [Graves] and Tom [Bishop], they helped me out.

"It’s great to come here and deliver.

"I don’t know if it was the pefect race but it was close enough.

"The guys did such a great job putting me at the front, I had about 1 min 45 seconds advantage going into the transition.

By winning, Benson also guaranteed Britain a quota place in the event at the Rio 2016 Olympics, although with the Brownlee brothers and others to factor in, there is no guarantee he will even be selected.

But, as well as a first British success here, the race was a good advert for the sport, taking place in perfect conditions in a picturesque location, something remarkable considering Azerbaijan only hosted its first ever triathlon earlier this year.

The only downside was the relative lack of local support around the course, with the closure of almost all roads in the area maybe contributing.

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