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Australian Craig Mottram broke the Australian 10km road racing record in finishing third in the prestigious San Silvestre Vallecana race on Monday night.

Mottram clocked a time of 27 minutes and 38 seconds through the streets of the Spanish capital, stripping 15 seconds off the mark he set in the same race two years ago.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge won the race in a world best time of 26:54, just edging out Eritrean Zersenay Tadesse.

Australian Andrew Letherby was eighth in 29:17.

In the women's race, Mottram's training partner Benita Johnson finished second to two-time New York marathon winner Jelena Prokupcuka of Latvia in 32:05.

Prokupcuka's winning time was 31:26.

Mottram went through the halfway mark in a slick 13:07.

He duelled with Kipchoge for the lead for another kilometre before being passed by Tadesse.

"I just couldn't hold on to the pace beyond that - you just don't expect people to be breaking world records on New Year's Eve," Mottram said.

"I ran on alright up the hills at the end but we were just going way too fast at the start for me to be competitive at the end.

"It was pretty obvious Eliud's plan was just to keep trying to go faster until I dropped off."

Kipchoge was second to Mottram when the Australian set a 3km world road best in Newcastle in September.

"He did the same thing that day but it was only 3K and I was able to hold on - but at 10K he was much too strong today," said the Australian.