Dorian Coninx took the race win and World Triathlon Championship Series title in Pontevedra, with Alex Yee crossing the line 30th, Jonny Brownlee 35th, Barclay Izzard 36th and Max Stapley 55th.
Yee exited lap one of the swim alongside rival Hayden Wilde, both 25 seconds off the leader Matt Hauser. Max Stapley was the lead Brit though in 18th, with Brownlee 30th and Izzard 59th.
As the field exited the water, Hauser still led but Brownlee was now the lead Brit in 22nd with Stapley dropping to 34th. Title challenger Yee was 48 second behind in 50th, with Izzard in 59th just behind.
As the bike progressed, Yee and Izzard were riding in a small pack together 55 seconds back at the start of lap two, as Brownlee still led the way for the Brits in the front pack. Stapley was in the chase group at this stage.
At the halfway mark, Yee, Stapley and Izzard's gap to the leaders was over a minute athe trio drove their group forward to try and reduce the gap to the two groups ahead. The lead group, that contained a ninth-placed Brownlee who was putting in a strong performance, was moving further ahead.
Brownlee continued to impress as he stuck with the leaders and, with just three laps left of the 40km bike, Japan’s Kenji Nener took the lead. Yee, Stapley and Izzard were now 01:40 off the front and working hard to try and get back into contention.
As the race moved through T2, Vasco Vilaca (POR) took the lead with Brownlee in eighth place, with Yee (43rd), Izzard (44th) and Stapley (46th) knowing they would have to make quick inroads on the run.
Brownlee’s medal hopes faded as heading onto lap two of the 10km run, he was over 20 seconds off the lead in 20th.
Yee had worked hard to reduce his gap to the leaders and had taken ten seconds out of their advantage but still found himself over 2 minutes down in 41st.
Izzard was working to keep pace with his teammate in 43rd with Stapley at the tail end of the field in 48th.
On the last lap, the French trio of Coninx, Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre led the way as the British quartet dropped away.
The race came to an end with Yee crossing the line as the top Brit in 30th with Brownlee (35th), just beating Izzard (36th). Stapley ended the day 55th.
The final podium of the WTCS season saw Coninx take gold, Tim Hellwig (GER) take silver, and Le Corre take bronze.
Sunday 24 September sees Beth Potter, Sophie Coldwell, Kate Waugh and Olivia Mathias race at 15:45 in the final women's race of the WTCS.
Ahead of that, Jess Fullagar, Daisy Davies and Tilly Anema compete in the female U23 World Championships.
