The 2014 season could have went horribly wrong for Team SmartStop in the USA after they changed their focus from criteriums to stage racing. But by the end of 2014, they had wrapped up the America Tour, the USA National Racing Calendar and went 1-2 in the national road race, making it their most successful season to date.

“We did come out of the gate super hot,” team director Michael Creed said of the 2014 season, his first as a director of the SmartStop team. “And, yeah, we were a little spent at the end of the year. We are going to come out of the gate super hot again. We're going to come out swinging. The only difference is that we have a deeper roster. Hopefully that will make the team last a little bit longer. But I think it's important to come out swinging every time. You set the tone, and you let people know you're not going to f**k around.”

Creed has recruited three new signings in addition to ten riders who will remain with the team. Evan Huffman spent two years with Astana and he is joined by ex-BMC man Chris Butler and 5-hour Energy rider Bobby Sweeting. They join returning riders such as America Tour winner Jure Kocjan, US champion Eric Marcotte, National Series winner Travis McCabe and other men like Zach Bell, Rob Britton, Kris Dahl, Flavio De Luna, Shane Kline, Julian Kyer and Travis Livermon.

“Huffman I'm super, super pumped on,” Creed said. “Now we have a guy who is a little bit of a TT specialist, but we can see if we can turn him into a tiny bit more than that.”

“I tried having him (Sweeting) on board last year, but it didn't work out, so I'm glad we could get him this year,” Creed said. “He's one of those guys that just makes a team better. He's a winner, too. He's not just a domestique. He just useful in every task, including winning.”

“We have Julian [Kyer], we have Rob [Britton] and we have Flavio [de Luna],” Creed said of the team's returning climbing specialists. “All those guys are really good. [Butler will be] be more support up there. There were a couple times when Rob was in a good GC spot and maybe got a little isolated. And likewise for Butler, sometimes he was a little isolated, so the combination of the two should provide more support.”

Zach Bell was injured for a long time in 2014 but still managed to win races and he returns as road captain for next year with the Continental ranked squad.

“He tries so hard for the team and he's such a great captain for the team,” Creed said. “I was really excited to keep him. I didn't know if we would be able to, but we did. I see him as being the go-to captain on the road in most situations.”

The team is setting high goals for 2015, starting off with pulling off the US Road Race, National Series and America Tour hat trick again.

“It would be a bit crazy to say we want to win all three of those again,” Creed said. “It more than likely can't happen, but at least we know we have guys who can do it.”

Aside from that, as a Continental team, they need invitations to make it into America’s biggest races, such as the Tours of Utah, Colorado, Alberta and California and they are putting an emphasis on the World Team Time Trial Championships in 2015 in Richmond, Virginia. Most of all, Creed wants the team to keep winning.

“I'm treating it like it's our first year again,” he said. “We're going to keep hustling, keep swinging. There are other things that we want to accomplish. If we got into Tour of California, I'd like to put on a good show there and show everybody how strong the team is. The team time trial world championships in the United States this year, that's massive, and team time trial nationals. There are so many other goals that we can do."