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updated 9:35 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2013

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong finally admitted on Thursday that he used performance enhancing drugs during his cycling career.

As expected, he confessed to cheating in the first part of a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey that was recorded three days earlier at his hometown of Austin, Texas.

"Yes," he replied when asked directly whether he used performance enhancing drugs.

He also said "yes" to a series of questions about whether he used specific drugs, including erythropoietin and blood doping.

(Reporting by Julian Linden; editing by Peter Rutherford)