diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 5fe42bfd8e..0e970b7cc4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ jobs:
           branch=main
           if [[ $ref_type == "tag"* ]]
           then
+            # fetch release branches (the branch name is not automatically fetched by the actions/checkout step)
+            git -c protocol.version=2 fetch --no-tags --prune --progress --no-recurse-submodules --depth=1 origin +refs/heads/release*:refs/remotes/origin/release*
+            # find the release branch that we're pointing at
             branch=$(git branch -r --contains ${{ github.ref_name }} --list '*release*' --format "%(refname:short)" | sed -e 's/^origin\///')
           fi
           tox -e test-cpu -- $branch
diff --git a/.github/workflows/gpu-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/gpu-ci.yml
index ad5b981b56..2eda33c724 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gpu-ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gpu-ci.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ jobs:
         branch=main
         if [[ $ref_type == "tag"* ]]
         then
+          # fetch release branches (the branch name is not automatically fetched by the actions/checkout step)
+          git -c protocol.version=2 fetch --no-tags --prune --progress --no-recurse-submodules --depth=1 origin +refs/heads/release*:refs/remotes/origin/release*
+          # find the release branch that we're pointing at
           branch=$(git branch -r --contains ${{ github.ref_name }} --list '*release*' --format "%(refname:short)" | sed -e 's/^origin\///')
         fi
         cd ${{ github.workspace }}; tox -e test-gpu -- $branch