AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Lance Armstrong says he will answer questions “directly, honestly and candidly” during an interview with Oprah Winfrey next week.
According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the cyclist will also apologize and make a limited confession to using performance-enhancing drugs.
Armstrong has spent more than a decade denying that he doped to win the Tour de France seven times. Without saying whether he would confess or apologize during the taping, Armstrong tells The Associated Press he told Winfrey “to go wherever she wants” and that “he’ll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly.”
A confession would be a stunning reversal for Armstrong after years of public statements, interviews and court battles in which he denied doping and zealously protected his reputation.
Armstrong was stripped of his titles and banned from the sport for life last year after the U.S. Anti-Doping agency issued a detailed report accusing him of leading a sophisticated and brazen drug program on his U.S. Postal Service teams.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.