diff --git a/gitlab/before_build.sh b/gitlab/before_build.sh
index 4a703c4b2a6a9e0d2c90cd261db1e5f950dd31e6..7ee5ddbd8fa3bcd8950055aad6b7de2d93b42445 100755
--- a/gitlab/before_build.sh
+++ b/gitlab/before_build.sh
@@ -42,7 +42,12 @@ PIPOPTS="--find-links ${WHEELS_REPOSITORY}"
 if [ ! -z "${WHEELS_SERVER}" ]; then
  PIPOPTS="${PIPOPTS} --trusted-host ${WHEELS_SERVER}"
 fi
-PIPOPTS="${PIPOPTS} --pre --use-wheel --no-index"
+# when building a tag, do not use beta wheels
+if [ -z "${CI_BUILD_TAG}" ]; then
+ PIPOPTS="${PIPOPTS} --pre --use-wheel --no-index"
+else
+ PIPOPTS="${PIPOPTS} --use-wheel --no-index"
+fi
 if [ -e requirements.txt ]; then
   run_cmd ${use_pip} install ${PIPOPTS} --requirement requirements.txt
 else