This was done to attract more high-profile riders, who before had preferred to ride the Giro d'Italia or the Tour de France, which both took place very closely to the Vuelta's timeslot.

[5] The Mapei squad arrived in disarray, after one of their lead riders, Fernando Escartín, announced that he would move to Kelme the following year.

The starting field also included Laurent Jalabert, Alex Zülle, former winner Melcior Mauri (all ONCE), Marco Pantani (Carrera Jeans–Tassoni) and a then unknown Jan Ullrich (Team Telekom) in his first ever Grand Tour appearance.

Olano moved closer in the general classification after the stage-7 time trial in Salamanca, but only gained 23 seconds on Jalabert due to a fall and a puncture along the route.

[6] His lead was so comfortable that he was able to abort an attack on the way to Sierra Nevada and gift the stage win to escapee Bert Dietz (Team Telekom).