diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 673e3f46fd63b8d6e53f0289ca0a020800c49ae1..6318739b234844b5aa4ea182db4a7558cd936d75 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ before_script:
 .check:
   stage: check
   script:
-  - tlmgr install ec epstopdf-pkg
+  - tlmgr update --self && tlmgr install ec epstopdf-pkg
   - R -q -e 'remotes::update_packages("rcmdcheck")'
   - R -q -e 'rcmdcheck::rcmdcheck(args = "--as-cran", error_on = "warning")'