It's Tayeb and Jimmy that have been doing the damage, with an impressively consistent performance throughout. They ended the first night's racing in a steady fifth spot, then improved to third on Tuesday with a win in the night's main event, the madison.

Last night, they gradually picked up points in every discipline. Aided by a stomach upset for Australia's Scott McGrory, who had been leading, they finished the night at the top of the pile. Most of the team's have a Swiss element (Tayeb and Jimmy with Beat Zberg, McGrory and Gilmore with the Swiss former World Champion Oscar Camenzind), but the crowd's favourites are the Swiss specialists Bruno Risi and Kurt Betschart, who have been made a Swiss trio with the addition of Beat's brother, Markus Zberg.

They are breathing down Tayeb and Jimmy's necks after a fine night's cut and thrust in the velodrome. They have 169 points, while the Gilmore/McGrory/Camenzind combination is even closer at 170 points. Tayeb and Jimmy only have 109 points, but took the overall lead in classic six-day style, when a daring attack stole a lap's lead over all their rivals. If you have a lap on your opponents, points become irrelevant in this style of track racing, but there will be many more twists and turns to come in the next three nights, especially if Scott McGrory's form returns after his illness.