London Dynamo’s Rising Stars Programme is now into its third year. Successful applicants receive professional coaching, personal mentoring from the Race Team Manager, a £500 budget to cover race entry fees for the year, and more.
Alex Mutter has been selected for this year’s cohort and entered 2026 with ambitions of competing in the British Cycling Lloyds National Circuit Series, as well as racing more than ever.
We caught up with him to see how his campaign has gone thus far.
Q: What did you learn from 2025 that shaped how you planned to race this season?
A: Last year, I found out my strengths and weaknesses as a rider. I found that I performed best in more technical, punchier races, especially on circuits or in criteriums.
But I also found my aerobic capacity was letting me down in longer races that required a high amount of sustained power to make the front group. Going into 2026, I focused more on my structured training to build a better fitness base and target races that suited my strengths.
Q: How did you go about training and preparation (e.g., plans, nutrition, recovery, types of rides), and how did that change as you started racing again?
A: I have been incredibly fortunate to have my coach, Rowan Baker, through the Rising Stars programme, help guide my training and preparation.
In January, we discussed my strengths and weaknesses, and I completed some power tests to set a fitness baseline. The main focus during the winter and spring was on building training volume and periodically tracking my aerobic gains with more power tests.
We could see what was going well, and what needed some work, as I started doing some early season races. From there, the frequency and intensity of the sessions began to increase from week to week. Then the volume decreased the week before priority races so I would be fresher.
Recovery has been simple: keep the easy days easy so the hard days can be hard. I have had a tendency to get carried away on easy days – I’m easily tempted by a town sign sprint – and then I would feel so confused after being struck down with a nasty flu after a hard training day or race, ultimately losing weeks of fitness gains.
Despite some personal records for training stress scores and cumulative training load in 2026, my illnesses have been kept to an all-time minimum.
Regarding nutrition, I heard a great quote from this year’s Tour de France that sums it up: “Most people mistake the Tour de France as a bike race, when it’s actually an eating contest.”
I have struggled to get nutrition right in the past, so getting advice from Rowan really helped. This year, I’ve really focused on high carb intake in the days or week leading up to a priority race, training camp, or high load training week, and the results have been noticeable.
I have also learned a lot about the importance of carb intake after a ride or race, and the impact it can have on recovery as well as future performance.
Q: What have been your key achievements in 2026, and how did you learn from your setbacks?
A: I was able to achieve all my original ambitions.
Have competed in over 20 races so far, with many more to come, compared to just 13 last year, I have raced substantially more and at a much higher level.
This included three races from the UK National Circuit Series and the City of London Nocturne elite criterium race.
My biggest achievement has probably been my fitness: I have set record personal power records that completely smash anything that I have done before, from my 5-second sprint to my multi-hour aerobic capacity, I have seen improvements across the board.
But this has not come without setbacks. I started the 2026 season at an all-time fitness low after months of issues and injuries that kept me off the bike.
It took a lot of persistence and grit to get to a level where I could be competitive at a national level.
Once I got to these national level races, things only got harder. It can be quite devastating to be hitting all-time power personal bests, after months of training, and still get dropped from the front group.
You can do everything right and it’s still not enough. Or even worse, you just get unlucky.
I’ve learned to accept that luck plays a large role in race results and I shouldn’t judge myself based on my last race, especially when competing against some of the best guys in the country and the world.
Q: How has the Rising Stars Programme supported you this season?
A: The high-level coaching, insight, and feedback I have received from Rowan has been invaluable.
Being such an accomplished rider and one of the best in the UK racing scene, the race day advice is always tailored specifically to the course and the field. This was crucial for identifying specific races that suited my strengths.
It has also been incredibly helpful to be able to ask and discuss anything related to training, nutrition, recovery, performance and more, on top of the tailored plans built around my needs.
The support and encouragement from London Dynamo’s Race Team Manager James Northway has been incredibly motivating.
I think it is important to create a positive environment within a race team, because bike racing can often be way more of a mental than a physical challenge. You could be the strongest person in the field, but if you don’t have the confidence that you can win or perform well, then you simply won’t.
Without James’ support, I don’t think I would’ve come back mentally and physically stronger when things don’t go to plan.
