 Success was achieved by only a handful of teams , meaning that other teams did not achieve much in the race . Though they nearly took the race lead with Matthias Russ in stage 6 , Gerolsteiner had just two riders finish the race , and were never otherwise close to a notable result . Euskaltel – Euskadi had only four riders finish the race . Two other ProTour teams , Cofidis and Française des Jeux , similarly failed to be at all competitive in the Giro . None of them would return to the Giro in 2009 ; Gerolsteiner folded in 2008 after being unable to locate a new sponsor while Euskaltel – Euskadi , Cofidis , and Française des Jeux all made it known that they did not wish to participate and were thus declined invitations . 
