There are several candidates for glory at the finish line in Madrid on Sept. 28th, but Tour watchers are saying that Olano, of the Banesto team, has the edge over fellow Spaniard Fernando Escartin and Frenchman Laurent Jalabert, two other favorites.
For Spaniards, the arduous competition known here as ``La Vuelta'' _ one of Europe's three big annual cycling events _ is more than just a race this year.
Fans are eager to see whether Olano can become the successor to five-time Tour of France champion Miguel Indurain.
``If I am riding in the Vuelta it is with the aim to win it,'' Olano told the sports daily Marca this week.
It has been five years since a Spanish cyclist has won the 51-year-old race. In 1991 Melchor Mauri of the ONCE team was first and Indurain _ who never won his home country's main race _ came in second. Mauri is also in the running this year.
But now, after Indurain retired last December and defending French Tour champion Jan Ullrich said he would not enter the race, the Tour of Spain looks relatively open.
The French have their hopes on Jalabert, who already won the Vuelta in 1995.
Others that could be in contention are Laurent Dufaux of France, Mario Cipollini of Italy, and Swiss riders Alex Zulle and Tony Rominger.
Rominger, who won the Spanish race three times in a row from 1992-94, will be in his last race before retiring from professional cycling.
The strongest of the 22 teams entered are Spanish, but foreign teams such as Festina-Lotus of France or Italy's Mapei and Dutch's Rabobank will be a threat.
At the age of 27, a triumph in the Vuelta would be Olano's first championship in one of the major European races with France's Tour and Italia's Giro. He was world champion in 1995.
Olano, who took fourth place in this year's Tour of France, thinks the Vuelta will give the Spanish sprinter a better opportunity for victory.
``This isn't the Tour of France and the time trials will count more'', Olano said.
The Tour's opening stage will begin in Lisbon for the first time in the Spanish tour's history, with a 160 kilometer (99 mile) course.
The second stage begins in the Portuguese city of Evora and sends the riders south to the Algarve. They'll hit Spain on the third day at the southern coastal city of Huelva.
After covering Spain's southern Mediterranean coast, a time trial in the southern city of Cordoba and a rest day, the second half begins in the northern city of Leon on September 18. Then it's off to the northern mountain region.
A few more stages over Old Castille and the riders head to the outskirts of Madrid, where there's a 48-kilometer (29.7-mile) time trial the day before the conclusion.
When the cyclists cross the finish line on Madrid's main boulevard, the Paseo de la Castellana, they will have completed 22 stages and about 3,784 kilometers.