diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index e760372f6fff002f58af38f62f1498ab54e6b0bf..fbfd70d74ff86c08323ee6dfc39b83dfb097ae96 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ build-spack-env-on-runner:
     - spack env create $SPACK_DEV_ENV spack.yaml
     - spack env activate $SPACK_DEV_ENV
     - spack concretize -f --fresh
-    - spack install -y -j2 --fresh --no-check-signature --keep-stage
+    - spack install -y -j2 --fresh --no-check-signature
   after_script:
     - mkdir spack_logs
     # succesfully installed packages: keep the spack logs for any package modified during this CI job
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ sync-gitlab-spack-instance:
     - spack env activate $SPACK_NFS_ENV
     - cp $CI_PROJECT_DIR/spack.yaml $SPACK_ROOT/var/spack/environments/$SPACK_NFS_ENV/spack.yaml
     - spack concretize -f --fresh
-    - spack install -y -j2 --fresh --no-check-signature --keep-stage
+    - spack install -y -j2 --fresh --no-check-signature
     - spack module tcl refresh -y
     - spack reindex
     - spack env loads -r