Lance Armstrong interview: An abridged transcript

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Tour de legend, global cancer campaigner, friend of Hollywood stars and US presidents. Lance Armstrong was all of these things when he sat down opposite talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey two years ago.

But the American icon was also a liar and a cheat, as he would finally it during an infamous interview broadcast over two nights by Winfrey's cable network.

For some, confessing to using performance-enhancing drugs during all seven of his Tour de wins was too little, too late; for others, it was a betrayal of epic proportions.

Sponsors dropped him, his cancer charity cut all ties, and his legal problems mounted. Not much has been heard from Armstrong since - until now.

BBC sports editor Dan Roan went to the disgraced 43-year-old's hometown of Austin, Texas. Here is an abridged transcript of Armstrong's first television interview since Oprah.

Dan Roan: It's been two years since you confessed to doping, what's that time been like?

Lance Armstrong: "It's been, as you would expect - well, maybe as you would expect, not as I expected. The fallout has been heavy, maybe heavier than I thought. And the way I told my story, through Oprah, as good a job as I think she did, it was pretty brutal afterwards.

"It's been tough, it's been trying, it's required some patience, but it seems like there's some light at the end of the tunnel."

DR: You said brutal, heavy, worse than expected - what did you expect?

LA: "In my mind, it felt that the air had already been let out of the balloon because of the report, the testimonies, books, because of a lot of things. So I felt most of it is out there. But I think the moment, especially here in the United States, when Americans heard me say it, it was tough.

"The Oprah piece was for half of the audience too much: 'What? Doping, [blood-boosting drug] EPO and blood transfusions">