WHAt a nasty letter from Peter Walker regarding the donation of £10,000 by Ryedale District Council towards the cost of bringing the Grand Depart of the Tour de France to Yorkshire.

While I can sympathise with his point of view, there was no need to be so rude towards the sport of cycling in general.

May I remind Mr Walker that the 2012 Tour de France was won by a clean British rider, Bradley Wiggins.

The 2013 Tour de France was won by another clean British rider, Chris Froome.

In the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, clean British riders won nine gold medals out of a total of 18 won by the British Olympic team. Similarly in 2012, clean British cyclists won eight gold medals.

Certainly cycling has had problems with drugs in the past, including the infamous American Lance Armstrong, but one of the reasons it has had so much publicity is that there is far more testing in cycling than in any other sport.

So give it a rest Mr Walker, and stick to your original point, without criticising a sport which is a credit to Britain.

Michael Fielding, Marton