Program misses the opportunity to emerge a winner

FOR years, Lance Armstrong was worshipped by millions of people who admired him for being a cancer survivor and multiple winner of the Tour de France, the greatest bicycle race in the world. For years, he was also dogged by accusations of doping, accusations he brushed away with Clintonesque indignation: "I have never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs."

Then the truth came tumbling out, highlighted by a confessional on Oprah no less and revealing Armstrong's story to be a Big Fat Lie: sporting hero and role model one minute, con artist and ultimate cheater the next.

The Program is a drama that documents exactly how Armstrong, driven by an all-consuming determination to clobber the competition, fooled so many people for so long, but it never really gets to the heart of the matter - missing an opportunity for a more thorough examination of the man in the saddle, so to speak.