Oprah Winfrey has confirmed speculation that the disgraced cyclist and high- profile cancer survivor confessed to doping when he gave the talk show host an interview that lasted more than two hours.

The much-anticipated interview was originally going to be shown as an edited 90-minute program tomorrow afternoon (Tastime).

But such is the worldwide interest and the content of their discussion, it will now go to air in full over tomorrow and Saturday afternoons (Tastime).

International Olympic Committee vice-president Dick Pound, a long-time critic of the sport's doping history, has raised the prospect of cycling being thrown out of the Games.

He said if the Armstrong admissions implicate the UCI, cycling's top body, Olympic banishment might be the only way to properly reform the sport.

The World Anti-Doping Agency and the US Anti- Doping Agency - the body which laid bare Armstrong's cheating - have also distanced themselves from a UCI independent commission designed to restore confidence in the sport.

Winfrey interviewed Armstrong on Tuesday (Tastime), his first media appearance since the wide- ranging, 1000-page USADA report last October that said he was at the centre of the biggest doping scandal in sports history.

Armstrong was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles and banned from all WADA-sanctioned sports for life.

Within hours of the interview, there was speculation that Armstrong had confessed.

While not discussing any details of the interview, Winfrey confirmed to CBS that he had made an admission.

"I would say he did not come clean in the manner that I expected," she said.

"It was surprising to me. I would say that for myself, my team, all of us in the room, we were mesmerised and riveted by some of his answers.

"I felt that he was thoughtful. I thought that he was serious ... I would say that he met the moment.

"I didn't get all the questions asked, but I think the most important questions and the answers that people around the world have been waiting to hear were answered," Winfrey said.

"I can only say I was satisfied by the answers."

But anti-doping officials have called on Armstrong to admit his guilt under oath before considering whether they reduce his lifetime ban.