Originally Posted by
carleton
...Track racing is a good example. Especially since it seems to be a great feeder into road racing. There are countless road racers that started with success on the track (Cavendish, Wiggins, Phinney, Theo Bos...)
And for sprinters like Jamie Staff and Cavendish it seems BMX was the feeder into track, both being single speed and helping develop the ability to turn cranks at high RPMs. It's also known to develop bike handling skills early. Although the progression moreso seems to be BMX to MTB for obvious reasons.