diff --git a/src/idiap_devtools/gitlab/release.py b/src/idiap_devtools/gitlab/release.py
index 8a485db660e064d0ccb36ea478c9dc5c1077f06d..987d4a63622a7791b2833269117e8f39058a92e3 100644
--- a/src/idiap_devtools/gitlab/release.py
+++ b/src/idiap_devtools/gitlab/release.py
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ import logging
 import re
 import time
 
-from distutils.version import StrictVersion
-
 import gitlab
 import gitlab.v4.objects
 import packaging.requirements
@@ -423,12 +421,12 @@ def get_latest_tag_name(
     tag_names = [
         tag.name[1:]
         for tag in latest_tags
-        if StrictVersion.version_re.match(tag.name[1:])
+        if re.match(packaging.version.VERSION_PATTERN, tag.name[1:])
     ]
     if not tag_names:  # no tags were found.
         return None
-    # sort them correctly according to each subversion number
-    tag_names.sort(key=StrictVersion)
+    # sort them correctly according to each version number
+    tag_names.sort(key=packaging.version.Version)
     # take the last one, as it is the latest tag in the sorted tags
     return tag_names[-1]