diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 647a1617918dcf845480f46302ddf0b62856e9b5..558b33ce113e82ed8043cff578d73c5e332bb251 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ build-my-rbase:
     STAGE_NAME: "my-rbase"
   script:
     - docker login -u "$CI_REGISTRY_USER" -p "$CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD" $CI_REGISTRY
-    - if [ "$R_VERSION" == "latest" ]; then export R_VERSION_PATH_TAG="v-latest"; else export R_VERSION_PATH_TAG=$R_VERSION; exit
+    - if [ "$R_VERSION" == "latest" ]; then export R_VERSION_PATH_TAG="v-latest"; else export R_VERSION_PATH_TAG=$R_VERSION; fi
     # pull the previous stage
     - docker pull "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG/my-base:latest"
     # pull the latest build of the target R version in order to re-use it