Five riders have received automatic nominations to USA Cycling’s 2006 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships squad, the governing body announced Tuesday.

Daniel Summerhill (TIAA-CREF-Clif Bar) of Englewood, Colorado, earned his automatic bid by winning the junior men’s national championship at the Liberty Mutual U.S. National Cyclo-cross Championships December 9-11 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Troy Wells (TIAA-CREF-Clif Bar) of Durango, Colorado, and Jesse Anthony (Clif Bar) of Beverly, Massachusetts, earned automatic selections in the under-23 category. Wells rode to a national title on Saturday while Anthony won the 2005 Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclo-cross series.

Katie Compton (Redline) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Barbara Howe (Velo Bella) of Larkspur, California, won spots on the elite women’s team. Compton claimed her second consecutive national title on Sunday while Howe was the highest-placed American (third) in the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclo-cross.

Automatic nominations for the elite men will be announced on January 10 with discretionary nominations to follow January 13. Discretionary nominations for the elite women, junior and U-23 men will be announced on December 15.

The world’s will be held January 28-29 in Zeddam, The Netherlands.

Canadians pick top-10 cycling achievements
Alison Sydor and Steve Bauer head a list of the top-10 Canadian cycling achievements, compiled via poll by CanadianCycling.com

After two weeks of voting, thousands of readers chose the top 10 from a list of 25 significant athletic accomplishments.

"We began this project after Forbes.com released a list of the top-20 athletic achievements," said CanadianCyclist.com editor Rob Jones. "After compiling a list of nearly 50 significant achievements by Canadian cyclists, we pared it down to 25 and let our readers decide. When you read through the list, there are some incredible accomplishments for a so-called 'non-cycling' nation."

Sydor and Bauer took four of the top five spots between them, and seven of the top 10. Also on the top-10 list were Lori-Ann Muenzer (4th) for her Olympic gold medal in Athens (the first Canadian cyclist to win an Olympic gold medal); Roland Green (tied for seventh) for his incredible 2001 season; and Curt Harnett (ninth), for his world record in the flying 200 metrer time trial (a record that has not been broken after more than 10 years).

The top 10:
1. Alison Sydor's three consecutive world titles (1994-96).
2. Steve Bauer's 1990 Tour de France, when he spent 10 days in the yellow jersey.
3. Bauer's 1988 Tour, when he won a stage, finished fourth overall and spent five days in yellow.
4. Lori-Ann Muenzer's Olympic gold medal in the sprint at the 2004 Olympics; Canada's first Olympic gold medal in cycling.
5. Sydor's 17 World Cup victories (mountain bike cross-country).
6. Sydor's 13 consecutive years of top-five finishes (cross-country, 1992-2004) at the world championships, including three gold, five silver and two bronze medals.
7. Roland Green's 2001 season, when he was world champion, World Cup champion, world team relay champion, national champion and won two U.S. NORBA series titles.
7. Bauer wins the silver medal at the 1984 Olympics as an amateur, immediately turns professional and wins a bronze medal one week later at the professional world championships.
9. Curt Harnett's world record in the flying 200 meter time trial (9.865 seconds) at the 1995 world championships, a record that still stands.
10. Sydor's silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in the inaugural Olympic mountain bike event.

For a full list of the achievements voted on, check the Daily News section of CanadianCyclist.com.