diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index da1b60cd5760da23a5e40876c198941b0631280f..dda4db314a8ca8d25b6006974af1d6478aea3e3d 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 stages:
+  - check
   - test
   - build
   - deploy
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ build-openapi-scheme:
       - $OPENAPI_JSON
 
 check-style:
-  stage: test
+  stage: check
   image: python:3.11-slim
   before_script:
     # we do this, because YAML anchors are not supported when executing locally