Oprah: Armstrong 'did not come clean in expected way'

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey has said Lance Armstrong "did not come clean in the way I expected" about claims he used performance-enhancing drugs.

She said she was "mesmerised and riveted" by what the former cyclist, who has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, had to say during their two-and-a-half hour interview.

She said she would leave it to others to decide whether he was contrite.

Armstrong, 41, has vehemently denied he took drugs during his cycling career.

He was accused last year by the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) of what it called "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme" the sport had ever seen.

He is now said to be discussing whether to testify against sport officials.

The US Department of Justice is considering whether to join the lawsuit against him, reports say, and Armstrong's lawyers are said to be in negotiations to settle the suit.

The UK's Sunday Times is already suing Armstrong for up to $1.6m over a libel payment to him in 2004 after the newspaper alleged he had cheated.

And a Texan insurance company is pursuing Armstrong for $11m over insured performance bonuses paid to the American after he claimed his fourth, fifth and sixth Tour de France victories.