1. Tom Steels (Bel) Mapei 3.53.27 2. Nicola Minali (Ita) same time 3. Steffen Wesemann (Ger) 4. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 5. Angel Edo (Spa) 6. Giuseppe Citterio (Ita) 7. Asier Guenetxea (Spa) 8. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) 9. Sergei Smetanine (Rus) 10. Hendrik Redant (Bel) 11. Massimiliano Mori (Ita) 12. Pascal Chanteur (Fra) 13. Marco Di Renzo (Ita) 14. Orlando Rodrigues (Por) 15. Oscar Aranguren (Spa) 16. Marcelo Abreu Campos (Por) 17. Jose Rodriguez (Spa) 18. Bo Hamburger (Den) 19. Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) 20. Lars Johnsen (Nor) all s.t. .. 29. Bobby Julich (USA) same time as winner .. 36. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) 37. Stephen Hodge (Aus) .. 44. Tony Rominger (Swi) .. 62. Claus Moller (Den) .. 64. William Chann McRae (USA) .. 70. Alex Zulle (Swi) .. 72. Peter Meinert (Den) .. 75. Melchor Mauri (Spa) .. 94. Kevin Livingston (USA) all s.t.
1. Alex Zulle (Swi) ONCE 97.31.46 2. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) 6.23 3. Tony Rominger (Swi) 8:29 4. Roberto Pistore (Ita) 10:13 5. Stefano Faustini (Ita) 11:21 6. Georg Totschnig (Aut) 11:33 7. Davide Rebellin (Ita) 13:15 8. Andrea Peron (Ita) 14:46 9. Bobby Julich (USA) 15:10 10. Fernando Escartin (Spa) 18:35 11. Marcos Serrano (Spa) 19:19 12. Jose Maria Jimenez (Spa) 20:19 13. Mauro Gianetti (Swi) 21:15 14. Daniel Clavero (Spa) 21:49 15. Daniele Nardello (Ita) 22:37 16. Vladislav Bobrik (Rus) 26:00 17. Axel Merckx (Bel) 27:34 18. Francisco Javier Mauleon (Spa) 27:38 19. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 27:44 20. Peter Meinert (Den) 29:56 .. 32. Melchor Mauri (Spa) 57:35 .. 44. Bo Hamburger (Den) 1.18.12 45. Claus Moller (Den) 1.23:40 .. 61. Kevin Livingston (USA) 1.53:21 .. 76. Stephen Hodge (Aus) 2.34:06 .. 98. Lars Johnsen (Nor) 3.00:40 .. 108. William Chann McRae (USA) 3.10:23
Zuelle maintained his six minutes advantage over Dufaux on the final stage with Rominger a further two minutes back.
The last leg ended with a traditional sprint finish in which Belgian Tom Steels crossed the line first.
Zuelle finished second behind Rominger in 1993 but had been dogged by bad luck in his attempts to win a major race.
Rominger's bid to to win a fourth Vuelta had foundered after he dropped nearly eight minutes on the third stage. But he fought back to win two time trials, and both he and Dufaux moved up a place when Frenchman Laurent Jalabert dropped from second to 20th because of a stomach upset. Rominger also took the King of the Mountains title.
Fit-again Jalabert was active in the final sprint but he had to settle for fourth place as Steels took his second stage victory ahead of Italian Nicola Minali.
While the Swiss dominated the overall standings, the Italians achieved 11 stage wins out of 22, most of them in sprints.
But it was a disastrous race for the home riders. The Spaniards failed to win a single stage for the first time in the race's history. Their highest finisher was Fernando Escartin, 10th.
The race lost much of its following when Miguel Indurain retired just after the halfway mark.
The Spaniard had been a reluctant entrant and his Banesto sponsors have been criticised by the Spanish press for forcing the five times Tour de France winner to compete.
Zulle's compatriots Laurent Dufaux and Tony Rominger, a three time winner of the Tour, finished second and third overall.
Tom Steels of Belgium, a teammate of Rominger's, won the 157.6km 22nd and final stage.
Zulle, 28, provided his ONCE team with their second successive Tour of Spain triumph, following Frenchman Laurent Jalabert's 1995 victory.
Zulle, who led from the 10th stage, was fortunate that he escaped the gastroenteritis bug which affected his ONCE team in the last week of the Tour.
Zulle also benefitted from the failings of his major rivals, in particular Rominger, Spain's Miguel Indurain and Jalabert, Zulle's teammate.
Jalabert, the World cycling number one, had another disappointing Tour, after his retirement from the Tour de France, finishing 19th, though he was suffering from the bug.
Rominger, who lost his world hour record to Britain's Chris Boardman earlier in the month, hauled himself back into a podium position after losing more than seven minutes in the third stage.
Rominger also incurred Dufaux's displeasure when he helped Zulle keep within touching distance of him on Thursday's stage. This came after Jalabert and Dufaux had been accused of colluding together in organising an escape that would put pressure on Zulle.
As for Indurain his bronchitis was yet another indication of his fading powers and he never appeared to be comfortable, though he had only ridden in the race because of team orders.
Despite all these factors Zulle still won the Tour on merit, and he now looks as if he can fulfill his potential by improving on his runner-up spot to Indurain in the 1995 Tour de France.