Gómez, who has been victorious on the tough, hilly course for the past two years, recorded another win over Britain's Jonathan Brownlee - who was competing in his first race of the 2014 season - as he took today's title in one hour 54min 13sec.

"It was another great race here in New Zealand," the London 2012 silver medallist said.

"I felt really good all the time, the water I felt good, the bike was really hard, some of us worked pretty hard to keep the gap between the second group and during the run I tried many times to drop Jonathan, he was pretty strong, but on the last lap I had something left and I just gave everything and didn't look back.

"It was a pretty good race."

Australia's Aaron Royle finished the podium in third place, coming in 76 seconds behind Brownlee's silver medal winning time of 01:54:33.

Jodie Stimpson's victory in Auckland was her second career World Triathlon Series win ©Getty Images


Meanwhile, Stimpson's win today saw her getting her 2014 World Triathlon Series underway in strong fashion thanks to a bike breakaway followed by an even more impressive run to finish in 02:08:34.

But it was certainly not an easy win, particularly as she was part of a breakaway led by New Zealand's Nicky Samuels - with whom she has trained - and Kate McIlroy.

"I was lucky enough to do a few sessions with Nicky, so I knew how strong Kate was," Stimpson explained.

"And I saw Kate and Nicky and I knew that this was their selection race as well so I was like I can't let those two go, I'm not going to ease up, I've got to get there and that was definitely the defining moment in the race.

"The first lap it was like the worst lap, it was really terrible, I thought god I hope my legs improve.

"That is definitely one of the toughest courses, I mean that's what the Kiwis are known for, they are awesome riders and it was great to be in a breakaway with those girls today."

Joining Stimpson on the podium was Germany's Anne Haug, who came second in 02:08:59, and compatriot Helen Jenkins, who claimed bronze in 02:09:10 in what was her first series race since 2012.

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