AUSTIN, Texas — Lance Armstrong plans to admit to doping throughout his cycling career during an upcoming interview with Oprah Winfrey, USA Today reported late Friday.
The interview, scheduled to be taped Monday and broadcast Thursday night on the Oprah Winfrey Network, will be conducted at Armstrong’s home in Austin, Texas.
Citing an anonymous source, USA Today reported that the disgraced cyclist plans to admit using performance-enhancing drugs, but likely will not get into details of the allegations outlined in a 2012 report by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from the sport.
Armstrong representatives declined comment, including his attorney Tim Herman. The New York Times first reported last week that Armstrong was considering making a confession.
The interview is scheduled to be broadcast Jan. 17 at 6 p.m. PST on OWN and Oprah.com.
Also on Friday, the head of Switzerland’s anti-doping laboratory described as “nonsense" claims by U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart that he helped Armstrong avoid being caught for doping.
Lab director Martial Saugy called a news conference Friday to answer accusations by Tygart that he provided Armstrong with information on how to avoid detection for use of the blood-boosting drug EPO.
Tygart told the U.S. television program “60 Minutes Sports" on Wednesday that Saugy acknowledged to him that he gave Armstrong and his team manager, Johan Bruyneel, “the keys to beating EPO tests" before the 2002 Tour de France.
“The answer is clear: It’s ‘No,’ " Saugy said Friday, adding he was “surprised" by the claim. “I would like to ask him (Tygart), really personally, why did he say that, because personally it was not the case."
Saugy suggested that Tygart had “deficiencies" in his recollection of their discussion in Moscow in 2010 soon after U.S. federal investigators opened a probe into Armstrong and doping in cycling.
