Vienna - Austria's anti-doping agency NADA on Monday banned Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl for two years after he was found to have used blood doping in this year's Tour de France.

The verdict was "disappointing," Austrian news agency APA quoted the 26-year-old as saying.

The NADA hearing came after Kohl was heard by the body earlier in the day. Kohl said he hoped his full disclosure would make him get away with a one-year ban instead of the normal two years.

"If they take that into account, it will be a good sign for the sport and for the athletes. If not, we will return to exasperating silence," he said minutes before the ban was announced.

Kohl came third overall as a member of the Gerolsteiner team at the 2008 Tour, which was won by the Spaniard Carlos Sastre.

But he was then - along with others - caught using the newest generation of the blood booster EPO, known as CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator), at retests of the samples gathered in July at the French race.

The athlete, who was feted as Austria's new star athlete this summer, then publicly admitted to using CERA already in October.

Kohl said after the verdict he had not yet decided whether to appeal the ban at the international Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. (dpa)