Unpredictable madison event returns to velodrome at Tokyo Olympics

For the first time in Olympic history, a women’s competition will take place alongside the men’s version

What to expect from Olympic madison? Try the first three letters. Mad.

What other word for a race invented in 1896 to stop cyclists from riding around Madison Square Garden for six days and nights without stopping – at best hallucinating, at worse nearly dying.

In Tokyo, 125 years on, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald will take to the boards for Team GB and lay another stitch in the captivating tapestry of an Olympic discipline like no other.

They won’t cover 2,000 miles in one go as early pioneers did but 30 kilometres, 120 laps of tactic, lactic and unique ‘handsling’ relay changeovers.

Pairs of riders from 15 nations will earn points for intermediate sprints – listen for the whistle for a lap to go – and for lapping the rest of the field, all broadcast live on Eurosport and discovery+.

At any point one rider is ‘active’, racing in the bunch, and the other ‘inactive’ on the banking of the track, both plotting the best point to clasp hands and sling their teammate back in.

It is a glorious mess of two-wheeled humanity and notoriously difficult to follow, either in the velodrome itself or on screen. If BMX is Harry Potter, madison is Inception.

Madison races were the place to be seen in its early 20th century heyday, with contemporary Pathé newsreel depicting a smoke-filled Garden and 40,000 New Yorkers transfixed at the spectacle.

Track centre was the equivalent of court-side at the Knicks game and for Spike Lee and Taylor Swift read Bing Crosby and Barbara Stanwyck.

When America sneezes, Europe catches a cold and the bug soon spread to the continent with heartlands in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

It has long commanded the respect of the world’s top riders, despite the draw of the road, particularly those who know their history.

Mark Cavendish is a three-time madison world champion and won gold with Bradley Wiggins in London in 2016. He declared interested in riding the event in Tokyo as recently as 2019.

Men’s madison will return to the programme in Tokyo, having been staged in Sydney, Athens and Beijing and dropped for London 2012.

Among the favourites to triumph in Izu will be Germany’s Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt, as well as Italy’s Simone Consonni and Elia Viviani despite the storied sprinter’s struggles on the road.

Deep understandings and mutual trust are characteristics of the best Madison pairings – which doesn’t paint a pretty picture for Britain.

Britain’s omnium gold medalist Matt Walls (pictured) will race Madison with Ethan Hayter (Getty)

“I’ve not done much madison with Matt [Walls],” said Ethan Hayter, selected to race for Team GB.

“He has been away quite a lot, and we’re just going to have to see what happens really.”

Much of the fascination will lie in Friday’s women’s race, where Britain have a strong medal chance given the sheer power of Kenny and Archibald.

Madison has been raced by men at World Championships since 1995, but was only introduced for women in 2017. Female riders have never before competed in it at the Olympics, and world-class races are still very rarely staged.

“I would be in the stands watching the men, wondering why I was only watching,” said Elinor Barker.

“How could our programme be lacking such an exciting race? It’s a good spectator event, great to watch and great to ride.”

The inference taken by riders was that the Union Cycliste Internationale and race organisers felt the Madison would be too dangerous and chaotic when raced by women. Those competing will relish the chance to disprove such stuff and nonsense under the gaze of the world.

“It was frustrating and heartbreaking when Madison wasn’t a women's event,” said Archibald. “I always wanted to get selected for it as it is a huge privilege to compete in the first ever Olympic competition. Hopefully I can be a pioneer.”

Archibald shares Hayter’s worries on a lack of exposure to the discipline, saying: “For Madison it’s a different challenge, as we do need race experience, but there have not been many races.

“I guess the good news is that every other nation is in the exact same situation.”

For Kenny, it offers the chance of a fifth gold and an upgrade on team pursuit silver, the first Olympic race she’s competed in and hasn’t won.

As is so often the case in women’s cycling, the Dutch will be the team to beat with Kirsten Wild and Amy Pieters having claimed the last few world titles.

But one thing is certain: Nothing is certain when you’re racing ‘maddo’.

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