Armstrong: I doped in all 7 Tour De France titles

Part 1 of Oprah Winfrey‘s now much-talked about interview with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong officially hit television’s nationwide last night, and we’ve rounded up the best highlights.  Be sure to take a peek at Part 2 which airs tonight on the OWN network.

• “I didn’t invent the culture, and I didn’t try to stop the culture.”
• “I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times.”
• He insisted that he raced in 2009 (the year of his comeback) and in 2010 without using any kind of performance-enhancing drugs.
• He insisted that he never forced teammates to dope.
• But was he a bully? “Yeah, I was a bully,” he said. “I tried to control the narrative.” He specifically apologized to former team masseuse Emma O’Reilly; after she alleged that he doped years ago, he attacked her personally and sued her.
• “I will spend the rest of my life trying to earn back trust and apologize to people.”

So why did he cheat?

• “That is the best question. It’s the most logical question. … I don’t know that I have a great answer. I will start my answer by saying that this is too late. It’s too late for probably most people, and that’s my fault.”
• Later, he said it didn’t feel like cheating while he was doing it because lots of other riders were doping, too. It was a “level playing field,” he said.

Related articles

• Reuters Video: Armstrong admits doping to Oprah (englishblog.com)
• Armstrong says sorry for doping (bbc.co.uk)
• Lance Armstrong Admits to Doping for All Seven Tour de France Wins in Interview With Oprah Winfrey (nesn.com)
• Lance Armstrong confesses to Oprah Winfrey: My mythic story would have been impossible without doping (independent.co.uk)
• “Armstrong admits doping: “I’m a flawed character”Disgraced former cycling champion comes clean to Oprah Winfrey about using performance-enhancing drugs to win” (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)
• Armstrong: I Doped in All 7 Tour de France Wins (newser.com)