Most studies of cytokine responses to exercise have focused on endurance distances, like marathons, ultramarathons, triathlon, 2 – 3 hours of cycling or knee extensor exercise (Suzuki et al. 2003, Nieman et al. 2005, Steensberg et al. 2002). In sport physiology maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) often is used as a parameter for dosing the amount of work in training, but there is no data in scientific literature that would characterize cytokine concentration changes in such exercise. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the gradually incremental physical load (GIPL), when athletes reach their VO2max, induces cytokine (interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)) concentration changes. It was hypothesised that the GIPL would induce the raise of cytokine IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations. Following ethical approval, we recruited 22 professional ice hockey players from Kontinental hockey league to participate in our research (mean ± SD; age 25 ± 6; BMI 26,0 ± 2,2). Athletes completed the gradually incremental bicycle test on a veloergometer Monark Ergomedic 839E. All of the athletes achieved their VO2max, when 3 of 4 following usual and accepted criteria were met: 1) volitional exhaustion; 2) maximal heart rate measured at exhaustion was superior to 90% of the age-predicted maximal heart rate; 3) respiratory exchange ratio was superior to 1,1; 4) blood lactate concentration was greater than 8 mM. Cortex Metalyzer 3B system was used to evaluate cardio-respiratory functions. Serum concentrations of IL-6, TNF-α (Luminex 200), cortisol (Immulite 2500), glucose and capillary blood lactate concentration were determined. The data was analyzed by STATISTICA 7,0. Significance was accepted at p<0,05. The GIPL increased IL-6 concentration as the athletes reached their VO2max (p<0,0001; median (dispersion: 25%; 75%) – 0,64 (0,64; 1,07) vs. 1,46 (0,79; 2,09)). There was also an increase in TNF-α concentration observed (p<0,001; mean±SD – 5,92±2,50 vs. 7,55±3,35). The total count of leukocytes and all subpopulations increased significantly (p<0,05) after exercise. There was an increase in glucose concentration (p<0,0001), but no significant changes in cortisol were observed. Analysis of data showed correlation between exercise induced TNF-α and total amount of monocytes (r=0,71; p=0,001). The GIPL, when the athletes reach their VO2max, induces inflammatory response, which results in greater total amount of monocytes that evoke TNF-α concentration increase in serum. It appears that IL-6 concentration increase is not connected with glucose haemostasis, as it is described in the endurance exercise (Febbraio et al. 2004), because there is no activation of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis, that primary ensures organism growing energy demands (De Vries et al. 2000).