diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index bc0f3db8c6f9f5f6c206fd43b1398b9137f21b66..08cea835a0b23ef8b2b8d03c0ccb97f58d39d074 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -71,11 +71,10 @@ unittest_py3.9:
   script: &python_test_script
     # install dependencies
     - *env
-    - pip install pytest pytest-cov
-    - pip install .
     - python3 -c "import sys; assert sys.version.startswith('$PYVER')"
+    - pip install pytest pytest-cov
     # actual test
-    - cd loanpy && pytest --cov=loanpy -vv ./unittests
+    - cd loanpy && pip install . && pytest --cov=loanpy -vv ./unittests
 
 unittest_py3.10:
   variables: