diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 2219b72ceea3da845f0815b94bab714810f9d4d5..350aa81a028bcf43c77c72f833c8d04cfcf5f900 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -17,10 +17,14 @@ stages:
 exitcode-jessie:
   stage: test
   image: ligo/software:jessie
-  script:
+  before_script:
+    # Remove lalsuite from requirements for CI tests - the pip version in the
+    # CI is too old and fails when trying to install lalsuite
+    - sed -i '/lalsuite/d' requirements.txt
     - pip install -r requirements.txt
     - pip install coverage
     - pip install coverage-badge
+  script:
     - python setup.py install
     - coverage erase
     - coverage run --source=tupak/ -a test/detector_tests.py
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index fe8a629b9a049938e04c73d9c49034b19bffc522..356634c1c863b2c80a7d6f84efbf66d16a6056c7 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@ nestle
 deepdish
 ptemcee
 mock
+lalsuite