Jolanda Annen triumphed in the women's event, while Adrien Briffod reigned supreme in the men's equivalent in what was described as a hilly and technical event in the Italian city.

Annen, who competed at last year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, secured her second ITU World Cup success as she crossed the line in a time of 1 hour 2min 4sec.

Her time proved enough to beat American Kirsten Kasper, while the bronze medal went to Canada's Joanna Brown.

"A podium in a World Cup is the best possible motivation for my next race, the European Championship in Kitzbuhel," said Annen.

"I felt really confident from the first metres. 

"My goal was to have a good swim and then push hard on the hill and run fast. 

"Even though the bike was really tough, I left transition two in second place, and I wanted to push hard because I knew that I had a small gap."

The European nation then sealed victory in the men's race thanks to Briffod, who won in 54min 49sec.

The Swiss racer ousted Olympic bronze medallist Henri Schoeman of South Africa, one of the pre-event favourites who was forced to settle for second place.

It was a fascinating ending to the competition as Schoeman was just three seconds adrift of Briffod.

Anthony Pujades of France was the recipient of the bronze medal.

"It is my first World Cup victory and I couldn't be happier," said Briffod.

"In the run I gave everything I had, I kept the pace on every lap and at the end just tried to speed up a bit. 

"When I saw that nobody passed me I was incredibly happy."