At the 2022 UCI Road World Championships, each rider will of course wear a helmet.

In Wollongong, however, lids play a secondary role as riders brace themselves for a swoop from above.

Located on the east coast of Australia, the city is home to a large population of magpies, and the arrival of spring marks the beginning of what is known as the "swoop season."

The medium-sized magpies are notorious for crashing into bicyclists and pedestrians in their attempts to protect their young during the breeding season.

Indeed, athletes training in Wollongong for the World Championships have already encountered them.

"A pretty big bird came right up to me and chased me the whole time," Remco Evenpole, a contender to win the men's time trial on Sunday, revealed on Friday about his latest training.

"It was scary. But that's typical of Australia. I hope it's just this one time, but I'm scared."

Stefan Kühn, who also competed in the time trial, revealed that one of his Swiss teammates was attacked in the same way.

"What do you mean 'really' birds attack you? Küng joked in a UCI video. 'But one of our guys has already been attacked by a magpie.'

In this part of Australia, attacks by magpies are particularly common among cyclists, with the birds said to be more wary of humans traveling at speed. It is common for magpies to swoop down and use their legs to collide with people at high speed, usually aiming for the head. Magpies are persistent and may strike repeatedly.

There is a website dedicated to documenting attacks by magpies, and several incidents and several injuries have been reported in the Wollongong area over the past week or so. In extreme cases, the consequences can be serious and even fatal: in 2019, a man died after crashing his bicycle as a result of a magpie swoop in Wollongong.

For riders competing in the World Championships, there may be genuine concerns, as Evenpoel acknowledges. Injuries are not uncommon, but an attack can easily derail a competitor's performance.

There are also risks to the public, as local veterinarian Paul Partland warned on Wave FM (opens in new tab).

"Magpies are pretty territorial, so things will happen in their particular area," he said.

"Swooping birds tend to target people who are alone or moving very fast. Unfortunately, I don't think cyclists slow down their race to take a little breather on the side when the birds are swooping down.

"As long as you are watching as a pedestrian or spectator, you should walk rather than run.

There are a number of suggestions as to how to scare off magpies, focusing primarily on helmet modifications, such as reflectors and spikes, although the effectiveness of these is disputed.

"Some people say you need to put antennas on your helmet to scare away magpies, but that's not very aerodynamic," Kuehn joked.

Perhaps a sense of humor is the only defense in the immediate future.