The 27-year-old Spaniard, who won his third Tour de France this year, pleaded his innocence after he was provisionally suspended by the International Cycling Union (UCI) following a doping test taken during the Tour in July revealed traces of clenbuterol, an anabolic agent.

In the latest doping affair to rattle the world of professional cycling Contador claimed the positive test was "a clear case of food contamination" and called the UCI's suspension "a true mistake."

The UCI added that only a "very small concentration" of the drug was detected in a urine sample taken during the second rest day of this year’s Tour de France.

But Howman said that any positive doping test should not be taken any less seriously because only small amounts were found.

Howman, who was speaking here in the Indian capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games, which is due to open tomorrow, promised that WADA were taking the scandal seriously and Contador could be banned for two years.

"Just because a small amount is detected, it doesn’t mean you weren’t cheating," he said.

"What you must remember is that you can take a steroid and it can be in your system for many weeks."

Following the scandal, Contador has called for anti-doping regulations to be revised so that small irregular substances found in contaminated food do result in positive tests.

But Howman claimed WADA annually reviews all substances to determine whether there should be a threshold to "cover situations where there might be inadvertent doping".

"I think there is a fine balance there so what do you want us to do?" said Howman.

"Find the cheats or put in a level which means some who are cheating get away with it?"

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