With $200,000 (£101,720) of prize money up for grabs for the winners, the British contingent of Tucker, Liz Blatchford and 18-year-old Hollie Avil fought hard, with the Bridgend athlete eventually rounding out the podium following a strong run performance.

 

Tucker’s third place finish is her third podium in as many races.

 

A second place finish at the Madrid World Cup gained her the British Triathlon Olympic selection criteria whilst her remarkable win at the World Championships in Vancouver a fortnight ago stunned the triathlon world.

 

She said: “It’s just incredible.

 

"I wasn’t really up for it today after the last few weeks of intense racing, but on the start line I said to myself, Ttry and have a good swim and aim for the top five’.

 

"I couldn’t believe I had such a good run and I felt really good on the bike today as well.

 

“After the Ishigaki World Cup in Japan in April I got home and put in five to six weeks of good hard running training which I hadn’t been able to do for about a year because of my injuries; so having a really good running and swimming group back home has just brought me on so much.

 

“It was a great race out here today, so well organised, some top class athletes, and it was just fantastic to be out racing in this kind of environment.

 

"We came to this race as a team and we tried some different heat strategies preparing for the summer.

 

"The support staff have been awesome; it’s been a real team effort for this World Cup.”

 

In the men’s race Denmark ’s Rasmus Henning broke away late on the run to defend his Des Moines title ahead of New Zealand’s Bevan Docherty and Australia’s Greg Bennett.

 

The world under-23 Champion, Alistair Brownlee from Leeds, was top Briton in seventh with Olly Freeman 11th, Stuart Hayes 14th, Tim Don 16th and Will Clarke 18th.

 

Picture @ Delly Carr and triathlon.org