The story of shamed cyclist Lance Armstrong, who cheated his way to seven Tour de France titles, is heading to the big screen. Star Trek director JJ Abrams has optioned the forthcoming book Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong by New York Times reporter Juliet Macur with the intention of turning it into a high-profile film, reports Deadline.

The proposed movie is the first to be announced since Armstrong admitted that an extensive programme of blood doping and steroid use played a part in all seven of his consecutive Tour de France victories during an interview with Oprah Winfrey last week. Macur has covered Armstrong's career for more than a decade, through his return to cycling after battling potentially fatal cancer in 1998, the championship-winning years of 1999 to 2005, the allegations of cheating that dogged him throughout the latter stages of his career and his comeback in 2009.

The Armstrong biopic is in the very early stages of production but will be put together by studio Paramount and Abrams's production company Bad Robot. It is not yet clear whether Abrams will direct and there are no casting details.

Rival studio Sony once had a biopic of Armstrong in the works with the cyclist's friend Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead, but that was prior to its subject's high-profile confession. Presenting Armstrong as a heroic figure who battled his way to the top of his sport after surviving cancer, the biopic is now highly unlikely to see the light of day in its original form.