The team grew out of the squad which Garmin-Slipstream manager Jonathan Vaughters created after retiring from the pro ranks, and is in the process of turning out the next generation of top US professional riders.

"If you look at Rabobank they've got the Rabobank Continental Team and they're all very good. Probably 60-70 percent of them could be on a ProTour team. So you have Rabobank Continental feeding into Rabobank, for us at Garmin you need a development team as well. It raises the bar, it creates better riders who are going to go into the ProTour"

"It's a lot different because on a ProTour team you're not teaching anymore. They've learned everything they're going to learn. Tactically you help them win, but they know how to win races and they know how to do teamwork."

"You're teaching all of that teamwork stuff and then on top of that you're teaching them how to slip into breakaways. They're going up against riders who're 27-28 years old and have more power than they do because they're only 18 or 19 years old. They have to start slipping into breaks before they can even think about winning races. That's kind of the first thing we try to teach. I don't care if you go into the breakaway and get dropped, as long as you got into the breakaway that's the first part of the process."

While it was expected that the team would be in the mix at the finish, McRae was impressed by the manner in which Howes claimed his first career championship.

The team had a tactical advantage by putting seven riders on the start line, three of whom made the winning breakaway: Howes, Peter Stetina and Peter Salon. The trio used the tactical knowledge learned from their experienced directors to set Howes up for victory, but it was through the grit and tenacity of a champion that he was able to seal the title.

Stetina may have sacrificed his chances at the stars and stripes in the road race, but he would get his chance to don the jersey in the time trial - repeating his victory of 2008. While he dominated the event last year, he was up against stronger competition this season.

"Everything was so smooth. The team just rolled over to the start together and everyone did their thing. The staff had everything ready, we had the bikes set up in the shade when we got there, everyone made it so easy on us that all we really had to do was ride our bikes fast.

"That speaks volumes for the program because it's hard to back up a national time trial championship performance like that."

"Coming down towards the end I thought 'my teammates have worked so hard to make sure I have the opportunity to win this race there's no way that I can lose this.' If I was to have lost that race I would have just kept on riding straight and never come home," said Howes.

"Obviously JV [Jonathan Vaughters] is in a really powerful position in the world of cycling right now but he still checks in every week and wants to know how the U23 program is going," said McRae. "He has a big passion for the U23 program, and because he has that passion it helps keep the team super-motivated all the time. He wants to know how everyone's going, he wants to talk to the U23 riders.

Both Howes and Stetina were effusive in their admiration of Vaughters and the role he's played in their development as riders. "I've known him [Vaughters] for a while," said Howes. "It's funny because he's a really down to earth guy, easy to get along with. You can make all kinds of fun jokes with him, but at the same time he's your boss. He's always been really supportive and motivating."

"We can talk with Jonathan - if I have a question about training I can email him and he can share some insight. He's been there, done that - the same with Chann."

"I have a bit more contact with them because I trained with them in the past," said Stetina. "I was on the pro team in 2007 before they had the development squad, so was Alex actually. Guys like Will Frischkorn and Christian [Vande Velde] point things out to me.

Most of the Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin riders live in the vicinity of Boulder, Colorado, which helps instill comraderie and a sense of team above and beyond the realm of cycling.

"The wins that we have in various classifications, mountain jerseys, green jerseys. team classifications. definitely show that we have the potential to be on the top step of the GC and stage wins, so hopefully it comes soon," said Howes. "It's hard for a lot of people to remember that we are a development team. There are riders on the team that can't drink alcohol. We're just kids!

Part of the challenge for Chann McRae as team director is to make sure their enthusiasm for competition doesn't get the better of them, leading to burn out and fatigue.

"I used to do 100 races a year, too, but now that the training is so much more scientific with power meters. You can do effective training that's basically race simulation. It's all down to within 10 watts of where you have to be all day on the bike so with all the technology now you really don't have to race as much.