Armstrong denies doping in 2009 comeback

Lance Armstrong confessed to using an array of banned substances in his seven Tour de France triumphs from 1999 to 2005, but denied using drugs in his comeback in 2009.

Armstrong, stripped of all his cycling achievements from August of 1998, told US talk show host Oprah Winfrey that he was angered by the US Anti-Doping Agency's charge that he continued to dope when he returned to pro cycling and raced in the Tour de France in 2009 and 2010.

Armstrong says 'sorry,' calls doping a 'mistake'

Disgraced US cycling star Lance Armstrong said in an interview broadcast Thursday that he was "sorry" for taking performance-enhancing drugs during his career and that it was a mistake.

"I made my decisions. They're my mistake. And I'm sitting here today to acknowledge that and to say I'm sorry for that," the seven-time Tour de France winner said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. "The culture was what it was."

"I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times," Armstrong said, admitting that he was a "flawed character."

"All the fault and all the blame here falls on me," he said.

Armstrong, after years of denials, acknowledged in the interview taped on Monday that he took several banned performance enhancing substances during his cycling career.

Armstrong said he had blood transfusions and taken EPO, testosterone, cortisone and human growth hormone in all seven of his Tour de France victories.