'I've got nothing to hide' - Lance Armstrong's history of doping denials

Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles last year. Credit: Reuters

In the early hours of Friday morning, Oprah Winfrey will air her highly-anticipated interview with Lance Armstrong in which, she says, the disgraced former Tour de France champion will finally admit to taking performance enhancing drugs.

The confession will follow a decade of doping denials. Here is a selection of quotes the cyclist is likely to regret:

1. On his son: "Luke's name is Armstrong and people know that name, and when he goes to school I don't want them to say, 'Oh yeah, your dad's the big fake, the doper.' That would just kill me."

  • Second autobiography, Every Second Counts, 2003

2. "I was on my death bed. You think I'm going to come back into a sport and say, 'OK, OK doctor, give me everything you've got, I just want to go fast?' No way! I would never do that."

  • Public forum in Aspen, Colorado, 2007

3. "How many times do I have to say it? Well, if it can't be any clearer than 'I've never taken drugs.'"

  • Videotaped testimony in court case, 2005

4. "Everybody wants to know: what am I on. What am I on? I'm on my bike, busting my ass six hours, a day."

  • Nike advert, 2001

5. "We're sick and tired of these allegations and we're going to do everything we can to fight them. They're absolutely untrue."

  • Press conference, 2004

6. To Sunday Times journalist Paul Kimmage in response to questions about doping: "You are not worth the chair that you're sitting on."

  • Press conference (see video), 2009

6. "Do we make mistakes, all of us? Absolutely. As a society, are we supposed to forgive and forget and let people get back to their job? Absolutely."

  • Same 2009 press conference (see video)

7. "At the end of the day, I have nothing to hide."

  • Associated Press interview, 2009

Source: Associated Press