In a thrilling finish, Blatchford was edged out at by Japan’s three-time Olympian Kiyomi Niwata.

The 30-year-old from Manchester was part of a breakaway group of three athletes on the run leg after riding in a pack of twelve.

Niwata and Blatchford pulled away on the final lap of the run, making an exciting head-to-head duel to the finish.

In the end, Niwata was too strong, pulling away from Blatchford on the final stretch to take the win on her home soil.

"I was satisfied with the race," said Blatchford.

"It’s always good to be on the podium.

"I hoped I could stay with Niwata for a sprint finish, but she was too strong on the hills.

"I couldn’t stay with her.”

British Triathlon Performance Director, Heather Williams, said: "It was a good result today with another very strong performance from Liz.

"It is good to see her being able to string three strong performances together after finishing third in Mooloolaba [in Australia] at the end of March and having a strong race at round one of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series in Sydney.

"She is regaining the consistency demonstrated in 2004 and 2005 before a multitude of injuries that limited her racing over the last three years."

In the men's race, Russian Valentin Meshcheryakov claimed his first World Cup title after catching Australian Clayton Fettell, who had held a two-minute lead at the end of the bike leg.

He said: "I'm really satisfied with my results.

"It's my first podium and I'm very happy about this.

"I didn't believe that I could catch the leader until the end of the race, but I did that and I am very happy."