Lance Armstrong speaks with Oprah Winfrey in his first interview since he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life following the USADA investigation into doping by Armstrong and his US Postal Service team. (Image credit: AFP Photo /Harpo Studios, Inc/George Burns)
The day many thought would never happen finally came to fruition Thursday evening when Lance Armstrong admitted to doping in a televised interview conducted by Oprah Winfrey. Armstrong had already been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life based on a mountain of evidence contained in the US Anti-Doping Agency's reasoned decision, released last October, but the Texan had opted to not speak with USADA and until his interview with Winfrey had made no public statement regarding his spectacular descent from world sporting icon to utter ruin.
But while Armstrong quickly confessed to utilising doping methods such as EPO, blood transfusions, human growth hormones and testosterone during each of his seven Tour de France victories, full disclosure and complete transparency regarding what USADA dubbed "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen" was not entirely forthcoming.
Following the first of two successive evenings of Oprah Winfrey interviewing Lance Armstrong, three UK-based editors within Future Publishing's family of cycling media, Jamie Wilkons (Procycling deputy editor), Paul Robson (Cyclingnews HD editor) and Mark Robinson (CyclingPlus deputy editor) provide analysis of Armstrong's 90-minute interview with Winfrey, highlighting the importance of both what was said and not said during this initial confirmation of his lengthy doping regimen.
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