Stein on cycling: off-course

Re “The Tour -- no doping, no drama,” Opinion, July 25

You’d think that Joel Stein, who claims to have “been following cycling since 1994,” would have learned something.

The withdrawl of Ricardo Ricco’s team following his banishment for doping was the equivalent of a baseball team quitting in the middle of the season, not “Major League Baseball just calling it quits in July.”

Stein can’t be watching this year’s Tour de France if he considers it to be “unwatchable.” It’s not all about superhuman efforts on every mountain, but team strategy, drafting and counterattacks.

He also seems to have forgotten Lance Armstrong’s spectacular performance over seven Tour victories, when he was the most-tested athlete in the world.

He did it by meticulous preparation, grueling training and a willingness to endure more pain that any of his competitors.

Jim Halloran

Redondo Beach

Stein shows an incredible lack of taste. To endorse and encourage doping, drug-taking and cheating is simply ridiculous and irresponsible.

His comment about Ricco’s team withdrawing shows how little he understands what went on with the Saunier Duval cycling team.

Ricco’s team withdrawing was more about protecting the remaining riders from scrutiny (an indirect show of guilt) and less about what Stein calls “the equivalent of Major League Baseball just calling it quits.”

I suggest that Stein elevate himself to the National Enquirer, where readership thrives on sensationalism. Too bad there are no performance-enhancing drugs for writers.

Andrew Markham

Aliso Viejo