Leading up to one of the most anticipated interviews in television history, cyclist Lance Armstrong says people can judge for themselves after watching his interview tonight with Oprah Winfrey.
“I left it all on the table with her and when it airs the people can decide,” he said in a text message to The Associated Press Wednesday.
The interview will air on the OWN network for two nights, starting at 9 p.m. ET tonight and continuing Friday.
“I have no idea what the future holds other than me holding my kids,” Armstrong told the AP.
This is Armstrong’s first sit-down interview since officials stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles last year in response to doping allegations. He confessed to Winfrey that he used performance-enhancing substances, sources told ABC News earlier this week.
The interview notwithstanding, critics have already made up their minds about Armstrong. Frankie Andreu, who was once Armstrong’s best friend and closest teammate on the cycling circuit, says he has watched his former friend mislead people for years.
Andreu and his wife, Betsy, saw their reputations attacked by Armstrong when they refused to lie about his drug use under oath.
Andreus, along with 11 of Armstrong’s teammates, gave sworn testimony to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that they saw Armstrong use performance-enhancing substances.
“I got emails, ‘traitor,’ ‘rat,’ ‘second hand cyclist.’ I mean just ripped apart. It was also from the Livestrong supporters. So it was a rough, definitely a rough period,” Andreu said.
The USADA report was released in October 2012, filled with sworn affidavits, statement after statement by riders admitting their drug use on the bike.
He denied the allegations.
Armstrong, 41, has outlasted the statute of limitations for criminal perjury charges in sworn testimony as far back as 2005. But more legal troubles could await Armstrong after his interview with Winfrey airs.
“He’s opening himself up to an enormous amount of possible civil litigation here that could lose him millions of dollars,” ABC News legal analyst Dan Abrams said.
There are at least three major civil suits in the works against Armstrong.
World Anti-Doping Agency General Director David Howman Tuesday said nothing short of a confession under oath — “not talking to a talk-show host” — could prompt a reconsideration of Armstrong’s lifetime ban from sanctioned events.
