Team player Christian Textor: Germany's fastest enduro pro

I believe that God simply wants to be part of a race. And that he is also interested in me as a person - in being part of my everyday life. Knowing that I am a loved and valued person in my faith and in my family, regardless of whether I am racing or not, gives me security. That is the foundation on which everything I do stands.

Barefoot, Christian Textor strolls towards the beach bar and orders four lemon sodas. For his daughter Elli on his arm, his son Theo on his hand, for his pregnant wife Katrina and for himself. The surf crashes incessantly against the beach on the Ligurian Riviera. But for the Textor family, this is not a holiday - at best, it's the end of the day. It is the last racing week of the year for Christian Textor - the man who has been Germany's fastest enduro racer for over half a decade. The ex-downhiller has discovered his true talent in this discipline, riding long, technical sections on sight.

It's one thing to take a bend perfectly and quickly on the fifth or tenth attempt, but to judge and hit the same bend well the first time, i.e. only on sight, is a completely different sport. And that's what suits me.

Christian Textor: Some people call him the "Teuton" here in Finale Ligure

For most people, however, he is simply the fast German with the reddish-blonde locks that everyone calls "Texi". Two races still separate him from the winter break: the Trophy of Nations, an enduro race in the team competition under the German flag. And the last Enduro race of the Enduro World Series (EWS) with a motor.

It's Tuesday, the evening before the EWS-E training in Finale Ligure. Tomorrow, the racers will be allowed to go off-road for the first time before the time trial on Thursday. Now would be the perfect opportunity to get hold of Christian Textor. But he's hard to get hold of. He finally picks up. "Dinner with the family first, then put the kids to bed," he prioritises. After that, however, he wants to go for an ice cream at the Piazza, the local pub on the promenade of the seaside resort. When he finally turns up, it's already late. Wearing flip-flops, Textor shoots across the square on his Bulls enduro, shouts something about a racing team he's friends with, where he wants to say a quick hello, and is gone again. A few minutes later, Texi reappears with a wry grin on his face. "Busy day," he apologises and points to the brand new Bosch CX Race drive in his competition bike to explain. It was only fitted two hours ago. Texi's favourite feature: the Extended Boost, which allows the motor to push briefly when he stops pedalling. This is actually intended for steep gradients, but Texi uses it to make the rear tyre slip like a stuntman. The bystanders' jaws drop in amazement.

As far as the race the next day is concerned, Christian Textor remains relaxed

The regular racing season has been ticked off since the last motorless EWS race a few weeks ago. The EWS with the e-mountainbike is more of an encore for the 31-year-old. "I just said that I wanted to give it a go this year," he says. "Because we have a bike that works well for it."

But what exactly is an e-enduro race?

Basically, the format works like a normal enduro race. In other words, you ride one or more longer bike tours a day, often with a total of well over 2000 metres in altitude. Uphill is sometimes more relaxed, but downhill is all the more challenging. Some of the difficult downhill trails, known as stages, are timed in individual starts. Whoever has the least time for all the stages together at the end has won. In contrast to normal enduro races, the EWS-E with motor also includes particularly challenging uphill sections. This means that not only speed, daring and control downhill count, but also riding technique and fitness uphill.

It's the morning of the race

It's not even eight o'clock and Christian Textor is unresponsive despite all his racing experience. Also, but not only, because he is still missing his first coffee. "I'm only one man and can only do one thing at a time," he apologises and continues to meticulously adjust the fittings on his race bike. A little steeper? Or a little flatter? As relaxed as he had been the evening before, he didn't want the race to be about the wrong brake lever setting. Another detail increases the stress level: Texi has to be in the starting block in a moment, but the fastest German is missing a control sticker on the rear rim of his competition bike. His mechanic must have forgotten it, but if Texi crosses the finish line without the sticker, he will be disqualified. No time for reporter questions. But everything works out. A brief discussion with the official, then the missing items are handed in. At 8:07 a.m. on the dot, Texi rolls off the start stage right into the middle of the top race of this autumn E-MTB season.

With Texi, the crème de la crème of the motorless Enduro World Series starts here

EWS overall winners such as Richie Rude, Adrien Dailly and Jérôme Clementz are registered, as well as many of the fastest riders from the World E-Bike Series circuit races, a few downhillers and even cross-country legend Julien Absalon. This is anything but a matter of course for an e-bike race. Only the e-MTB race at the World Championships in Les Gets was even more high-calibre.

However, some of the cracks are on an e-bike for the first time in the race - and quite a few of them will be in for a shock. The first stage ends at a jagged rock face that has to be conquered uphill - forcing the inexperienced off their bikes one by one. The downhills, on the other hand, are "old school" Finale Ligure: rocky straights with high drops alternate with narrow, poorly visible trails through the dense undergrowth of the Ligurian hinterland. This is also a particular challenge for many racers on their heavy bikes. The ambitious race organisers in Finale have made every effort to provide the world-class starting field with a suitable route. But Christian Textor has every reason to be relaxed. He finished 13th in his first EWS-E race in 2022 and has more E experience than many here.

Unfortunately, the flow doesn't really want to materialise in the race itself

Texi is too motivated going into the first uphill stage and shoots himself out of a bend. He even has to push in the last section and loses over 15 seconds on the leaders. Although he is fast on the downhill, the time lost on the uphill cannot be made up against the EWS elite on the downhill. And there are still two more uphill stages to go. "I kept falling backwards off the bike. It just didn't work optimally on the uphill stages today. I really lost time there," he says. "A mixed race - but not bad either." His focus remains on races without a motor. He has not trained specifically for e-bike racing. Nevertheless, despite the problems on the climbs, a crash and a flat tyre, he finished in 20th place out of almost 60 starters.

He gets his revenge later in the team race without an engine: the Trophy of Nations

As German Enduro Champion and team captain, Texi roars ahead, with Torben Drach and Max Pfeil as team colleagues on his rear wheel. Cheered on by hundreds of spectators, the German trio rode to fourth place in the world rankings on the dreaded DH men's trail. The result is an exclamation mark for the sporting spirit and team spirit that also unites the German enduro gang away from the race track. "We always try to help each other out. We share spare parts across team boundaries, we share holiday flats so that it's a bit cheaper for everyone," says Texi. Except right now. Because Christian Textor is already sharing the holiday flat with his actual favourite team: his wife Katrina, son Theo and daughter Elli, who are eating ice cream and drinking lemon soda and have now finally arrived on holiday with their dad.

I'm not the type of person with a blatant 10-year plan. I don't think that suits me. Sure, you think about it and try to plan the next steps sensibly. But I just see how long I can enjoy racing. Because, of course, it's also a job for me. But it only works as long as you're still passionate about it.

The vita of Christian Textor

Christian Textor actually comes from the dirt jump scene. He only rode his first race at the age of 19 and was unexpectedly fast. This was followed by several German championship titles in the Enduro class and the best results ever achieved by a German in the Enduro World Series.

1990

Christian Textor was born in Siegen. His parents are devout Christians, but do not want to dictate this to their children. At home, the Textors say that faith is a matter of the heart. In other words: you can only decide for or against it yourself anyway.

Late 90s

Christian's nine-year-old older brother rides a trial and dirt bike, and Christian is often there too. The bike quickly becomes his favourite toy and jumping becomes the norm.

2000s

Texi and his mates devour videos and magazines, try to copy jumps and land tricks. Texi buys a freerider with his first training salary as a mechatronics engineer.

2009

A dirt jump mate drags Texi along to a downhill race. With no experience and his freeride bike, Christian is really fast - the late start of a racing career.

2012

As part of the Mountainbike Rider magazine team with Boris Beyer, now a World Cup photographer, as team manager, Texi can concentrate fully on racing. He gives up his job as a mechatronics engineer.

2016

In Team Bulls, Textor initially continues to ride downhill. Then he switched to enduro. At the German Enduro Championships in Schöneck, he wins the championship jersey for Bulls - his first major success!

2017

Christian takes part in the Enduro World Series for the first time and manages to achieve a few good placings. More important to him, however, are his marriage to his wife Katrina and the birth of his son Theo.

2018 - 2022

Texi wins two more German championship titles and many top 20 finishes in the EWS. His wife and children are often with him on long journeys - the recipe for success for Team Textor. The best result: 13th place at the EWS in Scotland in early 2022.

Interview with Christian "Texi" Textor about E-Racing:

In 2022, the German Enduro Champion competed with a motor for the first time. What does he think about the sport after one season?

EMTB: In the Enduro World Series, the races with and without a motor always take place directly after each other. That's actually quite practical for you, isn't it?

Christian Textor: Yes and no. You also have to say that it's really difficult to race both. It's simply an extreme extra workload. With training, that's sometimes five race days in a row, which is crazy. That's why we gave it a try. Bulls obviously thought it was cool that I did it. And it was a great opportunity for me.

Do you have to prepare specifically for the EWS-E to be even faster?

In any case. Riding an e-MTB in your free time may be fun. But riding the heavy bikes at the limit for time is a completely different challenge. Then there are the power stages. These have played more or less of a role in the races, but special training would certainly pay off here.

What role does the bike play in e-racing?

A big one. The balancing act between the steep uphills and the fast downhills is even more extreme than on a normal enduro bike. You can't tune the bike so that it works really well for both. Experimenting with special suspension tuning would certainly help. And if the uphills play such a big role as here in Finale, a bike with long chainstays would also be an advantage. You couldn't get through the downhill anyway without shifting the rear wheel. However, such a special bike would not be much fun away from racing.