Armstrong Admits Doping

Lance Armstrong has finally come clean and admitted using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France. The cyclist confessed to Oprah Winfrey during an interview taped yesterday afternoon, sources tell the AP and the New York Times. Insiders say Armstrong is now planning to testify against officials from the International Cycling Union, the sport's worldwide governing body, about their involvement in doping. Before the interview, Armstrong apologized to staff at the Livestrong cancer charity he founded.

The Oprah interview will be broadcast over two nights: Thursday and Friday. Armstrong, who has been stripped of his titles and banned from the sport, firmly denied doping for more than a decade and it's not clear how far the Oprah confession will go toward restoring his reputation. Oprah herself shed some light on what's to come, in a CBS interview about the interview. After tweeting that Armstrong came "READY!" she revealed that "he didn't come clean in the manner I had expected. It was surprising to me." She describes herself as "satisfied" with his answers, and called the interview the biggest of her career in terms of exposure. (More Tour de France stories.)