The Frenchman crossed the line in 50min 22sec to edge out Britain's reigning Olympic gold medallist Alistair Brownlee.

Brownlee, winner of the men's title at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, was three seconds adrift of Luis.

The bronze medal went to Jelle Geens of Belgium, who recorded a time of 50:33.

Luis had arrived in the Spanish city off the back of winning the World Cup leg in Arzachena in Italy last month and produced another commanding display to end the campaign in style.

In the women's race, Beth Potter of Britain beat former Olympic champion Nicola Spirig of Switzerland to claim her first World Cup title.

Potter completed the course in 56:35, three seconds faster than Spirig, who was forced to settle for the silver medal.

Germany's Lisa Tertsch, tipped as a contender for gold pre-race, was a second further behind in third.

The event in Valencia was only the fourth Triathlon World Cup to have taken place in the past 10 months.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of two World Cups in Hungary and South Korea, but two others - in Italy and the Czech Republic - went ahead following the resumption of the season.

World Triathlon's major events circuit is due to resume in the spring.

Triathlon is also on the programme for the Asian Beach Games in Sanya, set to run from April 2 to 10.