Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service team(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Then-Texas governor George W. Bush is presented with a yellow jersey by Lance Armstrong in 1999(Image credit: AFP Photo)
The Sunday Times has taken the bold move of placing an open letter in the Chicago Tribune in which they pose 10 questions Oprah Winfrey should ask Lance Armstrong. The former pro rider is set to record an interview with Winfrey on Tuesday, due to be aired on the Thursday evening. It will be Armstrong's first interview since he was stripped of his seven Tour wins by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
It's unclear whether Armstrong will confess to doping and accept USADA's reasoned decision. Sources have said that the American will offer a partial confession, while American's lawyers have denied the suggestions.
Armstrong was not the only rider to be sanctioned by USADA. A number of ex-teammates testified against Armstrong, some of whom were offered six-month bans in comparison to Armstrong's life time sanction. USADA argued that Armstrong and his US Postal team ran "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen".
Regardless, the Sunday Times are in the process of trying to regain $1.5m in damages lost to Armstrong in a case dating back to 2006, when Armstrong successfully sued them.
In the open letter paid for by The Sunday Times, David Walsh lays out 10 questions which he suggests Winfrey should ask.
1. Did you tell doctors at the Indiana University Hospital on October 27, 1996 that you had taken EPO, human growth hormone, cortisone, steroids and testosterone?
2. After returning from cancer, how did you justify putting banned drugs in your body?
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3. Did you have any sympathy for those rivals determined to race clean?
4. Do you regret how you treated Betsy Andreu, your former masseuse Emma O'Reilly and Greg LeMond?
5. Do you admit that your friend Dr Michele Ferrari fully supported your team's doping?
6. Is it your intention to return the prize money you earned from September 1998 to July 2010?
7. Did you sue The Sunday Times to shut us up?
8. Was your failure to understand Floyd Landis the key to your downfall?
9. Do you accept lying to the cancer community was the greatest deception of all?
10. Why have you chosen Oprah Winfrey for your first interview as a banned athlete?
