Longtime leader Lucy Charles-Barclay remained upbeat despite an agonising second-place finish at the Singapore T100.

The Hoddesdon triathlete, 30, led from the off in the far east and held a five minute lead over eventual winner Ashleigh Gentle heading into the 18km run.

But Charles-Barclay was reeled in by the reigning T100 world champion around 4km from the tape, leaving her to settle for second place just as she did at the season opener in Miami.

“I had a good race, I was happy with the performance,” she said.

“I felt pretty strong throughout. It’s bittersweet being at the front all that time but I felt really strong and I think I just want to build each race.

“It was definitely a better performance than in the first race in Miami and definitely a much better performance than last year here in Singapore. So I feel like everything's stepping in the right direction.”

Charles-Barclay finished fifth in last year’s event but looked on course for a maiden T100 race victory when leading the field after the swim and bike.

While the reigning Ironman world champion was unable to see out victory on the run, finishing 1 minute and 34 seconds behind Gentle, she looked optimistically towards the next T100 event in San Francisco in June.

“I still feel like there's more to give in the tank and there's fire in the belly to go home and work before the next race,” she added.

“Overall I’m really happy and it's crucial here. I think this is probably the hardest race on the tour, so it's nice to get this one out of the way and hopefully the next one will be a bit easier.”