Cycling Weekly – July 25, 2019

TOUR 20 19

30 | July 25, 2019 | Cycling Weekly

you’ll see they are making adaptations

that should in theory improve their

endurance performance.”

Faulkner is keen to emphasise that

despite the assumption that 2 ,000

metres is the common marker for high

altitude effects to come to the fore, they

can occur at much lower levels.

“At 2, 500m you’ll start to see the

real physiological differences starting

to bear fruit. But while a lot of people

consider altitude as being thousands

and thousands of metres above sea level,

even at relatively small increases in

altitude of 500-700 metres we can

see a measurable reduction in ox ygen

transport ability, which is related to a

reduction in power output. At extreme

altitudes like 5,000m, muscles actually

start to deteriorate ”

Training gains

Despite the importance of altitude

training within pro cycling, it is just one

aspect of a complex sport that Kerrison

and his colleagues must conquer when

planning racing and training.

“A lot of research says you need to go

for four weeks to get any benefit but the

practicalities within our racing calendar

make that impossible unless you don’t

race at all,” Kerrison says. “So we need to

get a good balance of training and racing.”

There are a variety of benefits that

going to altitude can bring but Kerrison

believes that mental adaptation of a

rider knowing their body and how it

feels to ride hard at altitude is the most

crucial aspect ahead of the physiological

benefits. “It may be six weeks by the

time we get to the mountains in the Tour

since we were last at altitude but there is

also the acclimatisation. The more often

we go, the more the riders become used

to going from sea level to altitude; they

adapt to performing at altitude and that

is longer lasting than the physiological

gains from being at altitude.”

That ’s partly what those top-up

sessions in the weeks before the race

are about — giving the body a reminder

of what efforts are to come. Despite

Kerrison’s belief that acclimitisation

is key, Faulkner explains that physical

adaptations do start to occur within

two to three weeks of altitude training,

although he also points out that these

benefits are short-lived.

“As with any thing, as soon as you

remove a stimulus, the drive to cause

adaptation is no longer there. So you start

to see a decay fairly quickly in a week

to 10 days but probably what a lot of the

main GC riders are doing is using altitude

tents or trying to breathe low ox ygen air,

maybe on the bus or

something. This is to try

and top up or maintain

some of that altitude

stimulus.”

Nature v nurture

It is clear that altitude has an effect on

riders no matter what level of the sport

they are riding at. However, the genetic

benefits that can come from being born

at high altitude have proven to be highly

beneficial for cyclists in the past. “If you

are looking at a high-altitude native, like

the Colombian climbers,” says Faulk ner,

“the chances are that

they have some sort of generational

genetic changes, meaning they are

able to tolerate that altitude much

more effectively.”

Respiratory benefits aren’t the only

gains conferred by a genetic adaptation

to high-altitude environments.

“The other thing that is often neglected

is that it ’s not just altitude that has a

negative effect on the body, but also

“At 2,500m you’ll start

to see real physiological

differences bear fruit”

The Col de l’Iseran is the highest

summit of this year’s Tour

Time trials may favour riders

who live at lower altitudes

Colombian Nairo Quintana’s climbing

prowess may have a genetic component