Racing on a team is hard, but it's a lot of fun. The team I was on was composed of some pretty decent time trialists, though I was generally regarded as the best time trialist on the team. I've always been an okay climber, but because of my size (my upper body is herculean compared to most racers), I've never really been able to attack very well on hilly races, unlike some of my teammates who could take off easily. Many of the flat races we did, I was the designated rider, along with 1 other guy and whoever had the better legs towards the end of the race got the support from the team. I've won a few races, I've finished in the peloton dozens more.
Oddly enough, I've always had a lot more fun putting hurt on the peloton for my teammates. A lot of us started in Triathlon before we actually got into Road Biking, hence the TT skills, but that also meant we were used to being in the wind, so we didn't really mind it. Ego was never really a problem on our team since we were friends before we even started racing together. After 2 years of racing, our primary sponsor went out of business, and since then we've rarely done a race together, though occasionally we do all get the chance to race together in our old kit, though we never really race to win anymore, just to put the hurt on others!
Regarding finishing 11th vs 38th, I definitely agree. I hate seeing other riders sprinting for 15th place, it's all the same unless you're in the top 5. That's how accidents happen.