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Lance Armstrong Oprah Interview 2013: Part II

By LauraWeislo
published

January 1 - January 18, Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas, Road - [none]

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Welcome back to Cyclingnews' live blog of the Lance Armstrong interview conducted by Oprah Winfrey. We will be bringing you the play by play of what else Armstrong admits to, what other bombshells are yet to drop. Tune in at 8:30PM EST.

In part one, Armstrong admitted to doping with EPO, testosterone, cortisone, and to doping during all seven of his Tour de France victories. He accepted responsibility for "leading by example" in the team's doping, but did not agree with USADA in its assertions that the team had a sophisticated doping scheme. He said that the doping was minimal and risk-averse, while later calling the doping reckless.

There have been plenty of reactions whizzing around the internet since last night's part one of the interview.

The US Anti-Doping Agency and the UCI both came out for Armstrong, saying he has made the first step. USADA urged him to cooperate with the authorities, while the UCI used Armstrong's comments that the biological passport had discouraged doping as proof that they've been getting something done.

Other reactions from Christophe Bassons, various athletes including Andy Schleck, Jens Voigt, a "frustrated" Paul Kimmage, US cycling fans and legend Eddy Merckx ran the gamut of emotion.

Most cycling fans seem unconvinced of Armstrong's sincerity, and the mainstream press has been quite negative. Does anyone have anything positive to say? Tweet to @cyclingnewsfeed or use the hashtag #doprah to give us your views.

Personally, I found the long awaited confession by Armstrong liberating. With that out of the way, we can put it behind us and move on to what looks to be an exciting season full of (hopefully) clean champions. 

We also have some exciting, fresh talent to look forward to watching this year. Cyclingnews' 10 questions series on the Class of 2013 has already covered Ian Boswell, Joe Dombrowski (both Sky), Evan Huffman (Astana) and Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp), with more to come.

Just a few more minutes until the interview airs. Apparently, we are informed, Paramount Pictures has purchased the film rights to Armstrong's story. The NY TImes' Juliet Macur is writing the book. Looks like this won't be the last we hear from Mr. Armstrong.

And we start part 2 with a question "do you feel disgraced" - yes, he also feels humbled, ashamed, "this is ugly stuff".

What was the humbling moment?

"I assumed we'd get to this point... but I didn't think the foundation would leave".

$500 million for cancer awareness was raised.

"I had to think about this a lot. None of my kids have said you're out, none of my friends have said, 'Lance, you're out'. To make that decision to step aside -that was big."

Are you facing your demons?

In our first commercial break, we can safely say that this will be the "touchy-feely" part of the interview, whereas yesterday was more hard-hitting.

Daniel Benson says "For the last two years, since Landis first dropped those bombs at the Tour of California the entire strategy has been about circling the wagons and protecting this interests and mainly the foundation. He gave up fighting the allegations of doping but was always trying to hang onto the off-bike interests, the foundation".

Do you think that banned substances contributed to you getting cancer?

Flash back to the SCA deposition, where he talks about if he tested positive, all his sponsors would go away - everything would be erased.

Here we are at this moment, Oprah says.

Do you owe David Walsh an apology?

Daniel Benson: There's such a conflict in the minds of the fans as Armstrong watches the SCA trial videos. There he was, lying under oath and he was so convincing, even though we knew he was lying. Now he's on a show with Oprah and he's attempting to convince the public he's telling the truth. He has a huge battle on his hands here.

Armstrong says he still wants to compete, and that if there was ever a window - he would like to run the Chicago marathon when he's 50 for example, but right now he can't.

"This isn't the reason I'm doing this - this might not be the most popular answer. But I think I deserve it. ... I got a death penalty and they got six months," he says, referring to the riders who testified against him.

Oprah confronts him with the tweet of himself and his 7 jerseys. "It was more defiance. I thought it was a good idea at the time".

How has it changed the way you see yourself? Has it changed the way you see yourself?

Is there real remorse?

What do you think readers, do you believe he feel remorse? Tweet to @cyclingnewsfeed.

Were there people who cared about you who wanted you to stop this?

Armstrong: "If there was one person it was Kristin (his ex-wife). She believes in honesty and truth, she believes the truth will set you free."

Armstrong says Kristin was on a "need to know" basis, that he protected her from some of it. He asked her if he could do the comeback, "she said to me, you can do it under one condition, that you never cross that line again" - you mean drugs? - 'yes. I never would have betrayed that with her. It was a serious ask, it was a serious commitment.  I gave her my word". 

Armstrong says he thought he could come back and win the Tour, that he was coming back to a clean sport, a level playing field.

Now Oprah asks him about his oldest son Luke.

Armstrong tells of Luke defending him to people, saying it wasn't true....

Apparently it was only just this past month, over the holidays, that he actually admitted to his own son that he doped.

"They didn't say much. They didn't say, 'but wait, Dad' - they just accepted it. I told Luke. .. 

Another commercial break. So far the most emotion Armstrong has shown is when he described admitting to his children that he lied. That has to be tough, but after the break we find out where all his money went. 

Next segment: Oprah asks about the USADA 'donation" offer. 

"It's probably never coming back", Armstrong says of his millions in future income.

Armstrong admits his mother is "a wreck" over the situation. "It took seeing her to understand that this has taken a toll on her life".

Another commercial break: the second half of this interview focuses on the costs to Armstrong - emotionally, in his relationships, financially. Has he paid enough, as Jens Voigt contends?

Will you rise again?

Are you a better human being because of this?

And that is the end of the interview!

In my opinion, as a fan I would like to believe Armstrong is sorry, that he intends to make things right. As a cynic, I feel like he's just setting himself up to get royalties to his story now that his future sporting income has been flushed away.

Daniel Benson: Tonight's finale had some poignant moments: Armstrong talking about his kids, a short apology for David Walsh and flat-out denial of Tygart's donation claims. Still there are more questions...

This will conclude our "live blog" of the Armstrong interview. We're left with more questions than we came in with - there was no mention of Bruyneel, no mention of any testimony against the UCI or other officials. There was really nothing new except for Armstrong finally admitting he's "a jerk" and "a bully".

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