Sky’s limits: ‘Same stimulus, different responses’

Head of performance support at Team Sky, explains why pros train at altitude Many of the critical moments in Grand Tours occur at moderate to high altitudes — on the cols of the Alps and Pyrenees, between 1,500 and 2,600m altitude. So performing to the best of one’s ability at these altitudes is critical.

By spending time at these altitudes, the body acclimatises by adjusting and adapting to make optimal use of the lower oxygen availability. This process starts within days and continues over a two-week period while living at 2,000m altitude.

At Team Sky, we tend to go to altitude for two-week blocks. Many riders do two of these camps before a Grand Tour, and some riders do shorter ‘top-ups’. In addition to the acclimatisation and adaptation effects, our altitude training camps tend to have a much broader purpose: to train hard in a focused environment, with a lot of climbing, specifically preparing for an upcoming big goal. We often also use these camps to heat-acclimatise, getting ready to perform in the high temperatures experienced in the summer races.

Different people have different responses to the same stimulus. In the same way that some riders naturally perform better than others at altitude, some riders seem to benefit more than others from training at altitude — ‘responders’ and ‘non-responders’. Some riders experience altitude sickness at a much lower altitude than others, making any form of altitude training difficult.