diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index f5365c6..9d3e1e7 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ build-test:
   stage: build
   script:
     - echo $CI_BUILD_TOKEN | docker login -u gitlab-ci-token --password-stdin registry.gitlab.com
+    # speed up build time by pulling the old image
+    - docker pull registry.gitlab.com/$CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE/${CI_PROJECT_NAME}:main
     - docker build -t $UNIQUE_IMAGE .
     - docker push $UNIQUE_IMAGE
     - docker run --entrypoint /test $UNIQUE_IMAGE
@@ -38,6 +40,8 @@ build:
   stage: build
   script:
     - echo $CI_BUILD_TOKEN | docker login -u gitlab-ci-token --password-stdin registry.gitlab.com
+    # speed up build time by pulling the old image
+    - docker pull registry.gitlab.com/$CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE/${CI_PROJECT_NAME}:main
     - docker build --no-cache -t $UNIQUE_IMAGE .
     - docker push $UNIQUE_IMAGE
     - docker tag $UNIQUE_IMAGE $REF_IMAGE