I realise that there has to be a cut off for correspondence, but before closing the matter of the giving of £10,000 by Ryedale District Council to the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in Yorkshire, I hope that you will permit me to reply to the points made by Mr. Walker in his second letter.

Mr. Peter Walker in his letter in the ‘Gazette & Herald’ dated the 2nd July 2014, accuses me of burying my head in the sand re. the use of drugs in professional cycling. He should read my letter again, in which I state quite clearly that cycling has had problems with drugs in the past , including the infamous Lance Armstrong.

I went on t o explain how clean British riders have had tremendous success in both the Tour de France, Olympic Games and World Championships in recent years. Britain is now the world’s leading nation in competitive cycling, and is also leading the way in cleaning up the sport. The world’s number one cycling team is Britain’s Sky, who have a zero tolerance policy with regard to drug use. This means that if they sign a rider to the team, and that subsequently it is found that he has used drugs in the past, he will be sacked on the spot.

Medical checks by the cycling authorities can now take place both in and out of competition, and riders have to give details of their whereabouts at any given time, in order that un-announced checks can be made. This policy is working well, but it has been said that professional cycle road racing is the toughest sport in the world, so there will always be the odd rider trying to beat the system. Just because Louis Suarez bites the shoulder of a fellow player, the whole of the sport of football is not condemned.

Mr. Walker and myself will probably never agree, so I hope, having made our respective points, we can now draw a line under this correspondence.

Michael Fielding, Marton