The Madison is a relay race event in track cycling, named after the first Madison Square Garden in New York, and known as the "American race" in French (course à l'américaine) and as Americana in Spanish and in Italian. The race The Madison is a race where each team aims to complete more laps than any of the other teams. Riders in each team take turns during the race, handing over to another team member, resting, and then returning to the race. Teams are usually of two riders but occasionally of three. Only one rider of the team is racing at any time, and the replacement rider has to be touched before taking over. The touch can also be a push, often on the shorts, or one rider hurling the other into the race by a hand-sling. How long each rider stays in the race is for the members of each team to decide. Originally, riders took stints of a couple of hours or more and the resting rider went off for a sleep or a meal. That was easier in earlier six-day races because hours could pass without riders attempting to speed away from the others. As races became more intensive, both riders from a team began riding on the track at the same time, one going fast on the short line around the bottom of the track and the other idling higher up until that rider's turn to take over. Modern six-days last less than 12 hours a day and the Madison is now only a featured part, so staying on the track throughout is more feasible. Tied positions are split by points awarded for placings at a series of sprints at intervals during the race. The Madison is a feature of six-day races, but it can also be a separate race, as in the Olympic Games. It has its own championships and specialist riders. UCI-sanctioned Madison races have a total distance of . History The Madison began as a way of circumventing laws passed in New York in the US, aimed at restricting the exhaustion of cyclists taking part in six-day races. According to a contemporary newspaper clipping retained by Major Taylor: The riders are becoming peevish and fretful. The wear and tear upon their nerves and their muscles, and the loss of sleep make them so. If their desires are not met with on the moment,