Well, that’s that.

The hotly anticipated Lance Armstrong interview with Oprah Winfrey aired it’s first part last night and rather than drag things out over both parts (the second section airs tonight), the talk show mogul pretty much asked straightforward if the famed cyclist was guilty of taking any performance enhancing drugs throughout his career.

“Yes”, he answered to all five opening questions referring to whether or not he doped during his entire career, as well as had blood transfusions so he wouldn’t be found with the drugs in his system.

And yes, it was his entire career, including his seven Tour de France victories.

As for why he did it, the fallen from grace hero admitted that in his opinion, he wouldn’t be able to be as great as he was during those competitions.

Read on after the jump.

Some other interesting tidbits:

• he figured he wouldn’t be caught considering “there was no testing for EPO and no testing out of competition. So you’re not gonna get caught ‘cause you’re clean at the races. It was a question of scheduling.”

• he didn’t consider it cheating: “I looked up the definition of ‘cheat’ and the definition is ‘to gain an advantage of a rival or foe,’ and I didn’t view it that way,” Armstrong said. “I viewed it as a level playing field.”

• he took those drugs from the mid-1990′s to 2005, his final Tour de France win.

So overall, seems like he was quite the manipulative jerk… and even called himself out because of it and his bravado actions following the scandal breaking.

Should be interesting to see just how many lawsuits come to fruition due to his admission; his former sponsors have threatened litigation should the truth be released in this fashion.

Check out a clip of the interview below where he pretty much ruins the rest of his life.

via YouTube