diff --git a/.gitlab/CI/release.yml b/.gitlab/CI/release.yml
index 5f0dfc86ea..7a59bd5b60 100644
--- a/.gitlab/CI/release.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/CI/release.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # allow_failure: true makes these pipelines manual and "non-blocking" which changed with except -> rule syntax
 .optional-release:
-  stage: build
+  stage: check
   tags:
     - veloren-docker
   rules: