Lance Armstrong has accused ex-UCI President Hein Verbruggen of helping to cover up a failed drugs test in 1999.

The Texan, who was stripped of seven Tour de France titles, said a prescription for steroid creams was backdated to try and get him off the hook. 

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Armstrong claims that Verbuggen said: "'This is a real problem for me, this is the knockout punch for our sport, the year after Festina, so we've got to come up with something'. So we backdated the prescription."

Verbuggen is still an honorary member of the UCI but he may be asked to come before an independent commission at which Armstrong may also give evidence.

In the presence of Daily Mail reporter Matt Lawton, Armstrong also came face to face with Emma O'Reilly, the former US Postal team soigneur who became a whistle-blower and was the first person to speak out about his doping.

She was consequently sued by Armstrong who also made many disparaging remarks about her. 

This was their first face to face meeting in 13 years.

After the meeting, the Dubliner said: ""I was thinking, he never actually used the word sorry. But I wasn't looking for an insincere apology. There are different ways of saying sorry and I felt what he did say was genuine."