On account of results early in his career, a Basque background and some physical similarities, Olano was seen by many supporters as the successor to five-times Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain. The comparison would haunt Olano for all of his career, as he went on to have a career that was very successful by almost any other standard. Olano was one of the very best time trialists of his generation, and a rider with enormous stamina. However, he was a reluctant climber, and a tendency to lose valuable time to the specialists on the steepest and highest climbs, would keep his number of Grand Tour Wins to 1.