Before his abrupt U-turn in an interview this week with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong had, many times and in many forums, consistently denied that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Here is a sample of some of the cyclist’s choicest comments on the subject before he finally admitted to doping:

* “Luke’s name is Armstrong and people know that name, and when he goes to school I don’t want them to say, ‘Oh yeah, your dad’s the big fake, the doper.’ That would just kill me.” — In his second autobiography, Every Second Counts, in 2003.

* “I came out of a life-threatening disease. I was on my death bed. You think I’m going to come back into a sport and say, ‘OK, OK doctor, give me everything you’ve got, I just want to go fast?’ No way! I would never do that.” — Public forum, Aspen, Colorado, 2007.

* “How many times do I have to say it? … Well, if it can’t be any clearer than ‘I’ve never taken drugs’.” — Videotaped testimony in lawsuit, 2005.

“I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles.” — 2005 Tour de France victory speech, taking aim at “the cynics and the sceptics”.

* “There are no secrets. This is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it.” — 2005 Tour de France victory speech.

* “Everybody wants to know: what am I on. What am I on? I’m on my bike, busting my ass six hours a day.” — commercial for Nike in 2001.

* “We’re sick and tired of these allegations and we’re going to do everything we can to fight them. They’re absolutely untrue.” — news conference, 2004.

* “They say, ‘This is a new guy in the Tour. It can’t be. He must be doped.’ It’s unfortunate.” — TV interview on the way to winning his first Tour, in 1999.

* “You are not worth the chair that you’re sitting on.” — said to journalist and doping critic Paul Kimmage at 2009 news conference.

* “Do we make mistakes, all of us? Absolutely. As a society, are we supposed to forgive and forget and let people get back to their job? Absolutely.” — same news conference, arguing that dopers should get a second chance.

* “At the end of the day, I have nothing to hide.” — Associated Press interview, 2009.

* “I have never doped.” — on Larry King Live, 2005.

Yesterday, Armstrong said that viewers can judge for themselves how candid he was in his interview 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.

The cyclist responded to a report in the New York Daily News, citing an unidentified source, that he was not contrite when he acknowledged during Monday’s taping with Winfrey that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

He’s also held conversations with US anti-doping officials, touching off speculation that the team leader who demanded loyalty from others soon may face some very tough choices himself: whether to co-operate and name those who aided, knew about or helped cover up a sophisticated doping ring that Armstrong ran on his tour-winning US Postal Service squads.

“I have no idea what the future holds other than me holding my kids,” he said.

Armstrong’s interview with Winfrey begins airing tonight, but already some people want to hear more — under oath — before he’s allowed to compete again in elite triathlons, a sport he returned to after retiring from cycling in 2011. In addition to stripping him of all seven of his Tour de France titles last year, anti-doping officials banned Armstrong for life from sanctioned events.

World Anti-Doping Agency officials said nothing short of “a full confession under oath” would even cause them to reconsider the ban. Although Armstrong admitted to Winfrey on Monday that he used performance-enhancing drugs, David Howman, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said that is “hardly the same as giving evidence to a relevant authority”.

The International Cycling Union also urged Armstrong to tell his story to an independent commission it has set up to examine claims that the sport’s governing body hid suspicious samples, accepted financial donations, and helped Armstrong avoid detection in doping tests.