Armstrong's comments on doping not as expected -Oprah Winfrey

Lance Armstrong has finally come clean.                    

After years of bitter and forceful denials, he offered a simple "I'm sorry" to friends and colleagues and then admitted he used performance-enhancing drugs during an extraordinary cycling career that included seven Tour de France victories.                     

Armstrong confessed to doping during an interview with Oprah Winfrey taped Monday, just a couple of hours after an emotional apology to the staff at the Livestrong charity he founded and was later forced to surrender, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the interview is to be broadcast Thursday on Winfrey's network.               

For more than a decade, Armstrong dared anybody who challenged his version of events to prove it. Finally, he told the tale himself after promising over the weekend to answer Winfrey's questions "directly, honestly and candidly."                         

Armstrong is said to be worth around $100 million. But most sponsors dropped him after USADA's scathing report at the cost of tens of millions of dollars and soon after, he left the board of Livestrong.                    

After the USADA findings, he was also barred from competing in the elite triathlon or running events he participated in after his cycling career. World Anti-Doping Code rules state his lifetime ban cannot be reduced to less than eight years. WADA and US Anti-Doping officials could agree to reduce the ban further depending on what information Armstrong provides and his level of cooperation.

A day after recording a lengthy interview with the disgraced cyclist,  celebrated talk show host Oprah Winfrey said on Tuesday, Lance Armstrong "did not come clean in the way I expected."   

Armstrong, 41, addressed accusations that he used performance-enhancing drugs in his racing career in the interview with Winfrey, which will air on Thursday on Winfrey's OWN network.   

In an appearance on CBS on Tuesday, Winfrey said she would leave to others to decide if Armstrong was contrite, but added that he was serious and thoughtful in the interview.


AP/REUTERS