Madison is a tag team points race, with up to 16 teams of two (32 riders) doing handslings to come in and out of the race every 3 laps or so. Riders alternate between full on and rolling rest, so they can go *really* fast. Toward the end of the madison at world cup a friend of mine timed them at about 13.5 second laps-- that's a little over 40 mph.