Introduction: The sympathetic nervous system modulates many metabolic and hormonal responses to exercise. It is not well known its influence on serum levels of peptide hormone hepcidin, a key iron metabolism regulator, during exercise. Material and methods: This study examined the effects of exercise intensity on the hepcidin response and treated to relate catecholamine and hepcidin responses to exercise. Fifteen trained cyclists and triathletes undertook a maximal stress test on a cycle ergometer followed by two different intensity tests (moderate and high) in random order. The two tests consisted of 30 min of exercise at an intensity 10% lower than that corresponding to the ventilatory threshold (VT) (30-MI) or the respiratory compensation point (RCP) (30-HI). Results and discussion: Despite higher norepinephrine levels detected after the 30-MI test versus baseline (p <0.01) and after the 30-HI test versus 30-MI (p <0.01), the hepcidin response was unmodified by the intensity of exercise. Conclusion: Given we were unable to relate the hepcidin response to an exercise known to elicit high sympathetic-adrenal activity, our findings suggest that exercise intensity, and by extension the sympathetic activation, does not modulate the hepcidin response to exercise