Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco admitted on Wednesday that he took the blood-booster EPO before this month’s Tour de France.

Ricco, who tested positive in a doping control after the fourth stage of the three-week race, now could face a two-year ban after appearing before the Italian Olympic Committee’s anti-doping prosecutor.

“In front of the anti-doping prosecutor I have taken responsibility,” he told reporters.

Ricoo said that he took EPO before Tour.

The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) later said Ricco had tried to avoid the doping test.

Ricco was kicked out of the race when the results of the test were revealed and his Saunier-Duval team left the Tour.

Spanish cycling team Saunier Duval lost its main sponsor after two of its riders tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs at the Tour de France.

Vaillant, a German manufacturer of heating systems, said Wednesday that its Spanish subsidiary was pulling out of sponsoring the Saunier Duval team as a result of “current events.”