diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 54bac6957f..aba604b7c8 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -602,7 +602,6 @@ vulture:
     - vulture --exclude "*ans.py,conftest.py,isctest" --ignore-names "pytestmark" bin/tests/system/
 
 ci-variables:
-  stage: precheck
   <<: *precheck_job
   script:
     - export BIND_BASELINE_BRANCH="$(sed -n -E "s|^m4_define\(\[bind_VERSION_MINOR\], ([0-9]+)\)dnl$|\1|p" configure.ac)"