diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6e6aa58bf5e2456e9617dd71b4f7f604f27daa5c..afe329dc9e14a879dbdc111dd59c6807a87196f2 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ default:
   stage: check
   script:
   - R -e 'rcmdcheck::rcmdcheck(args = ifelse(as.logical(Sys.getenv("NOT_CRAN")), "", "--as-cran"), error_on = "warning")'
-  - R -e 'install.packages(c("microbenchmark", "airGR"), repos = "http://cran.r-project.org")'
 
 .check_not_cran:
   variables:
@@ -45,6 +44,8 @@ benchmark_patched:
     R_VERSION: "patched"
   allow_failure: true
   script:
+  - R -e 'remotes::update_packages("microbenchmark", repos = "http://cran.r-project.org")'
+  - R -e 'install.packages("airGR", repos = "http://cran.r-project.org")'
   - Rscript tests/scheduled_tests/benchmarkRunModel.R
   - R CMD INSTALL .
   - Rscript tests/scheduled_tests/benchmarkRunModel.R