Altitude and Endurance Performance in Altitude Natives versus Lowlanders: Insights from Professional Cycling

Acute altitude exposure influences exercise performance, although most research, especially regarding altitude natives, comes from laboratory data in nonathletes.

We analyzed the influence of altitude on real-world cycling performance in top-level professional cyclists attending to whether they were altitude natives or not.

Thirty-three male cyclists (29 ± 5 yr) were studied and were classified as lowlanders (n = 19) or altitude natives (n = 14) attending to the altitude of their place of birth (431 ± 380 and 2583 ± 334 meters above sea level (m a.s.l.), respectively). Both groups included top 3 finishers (including winners) in the general classification of Grand Tours and major races. Using data from both training and competitions during years 2013-2020 (8 ± 5 seasons per cyclist), we registered participants' mean maximal power (MMP) for efforts lasting 5 s, 30 s, 5 min, and 10 min, respectively, at altitudes ranging from 0-500 to >2000 m a.s.l.

A significant altitude-MMP interaction effect (two-factor repeated-measures ANOVA) was found in lowlanders (P < 0.001) but not in altitude natives (P = 0.150). In lowlanders, individual performance decreased in a dose-response manner with increasing altitudes compared with sea (or near-sea) level (0-500 m a.s.l.), whereas this trend was much less evident in natives. A significant altitude-MMP-group effect was found (P < 0.001), with nonsignificant (and overall trivial-to-small differences) between lowlanders and altitude natives for any effort duration at altitudes ≤1500 m a.s.l. but with significant differences at higher altitudes (≥1501 m a.s.l.).

Acute altitude exposure influences real-world performance differently in low landers and altitude natives, which might confer a competitive advantage to the latter, particularly in races including efforts at >1500 m a.s.l.