diff --git a/.github/workflows/sync-to-gitlab-cleanup.yml b/.github/workflows/sync-to-gitlab-cleanup.yml
index 4a18c506f8caad58ac7ba2d6f5c52965a7256e53..09871bf298b2711e37550102c26171f594457a06 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/sync-to-gitlab-cleanup.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/sync-to-gitlab-cleanup.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Cleanup
         run: |
-          git push https://oauth2:${GITLAB_TOKEN}@gitlab.com/go-semantic-release/semantic-release.git :${{ github.event.ref }}
+          git init
+          git remote add gitlab https://oauth2:${GITLAB_TOKEN}@gitlab.com/go-semantic-release/semantic-release.git
+          git push gitlab :${{ github.event.ref }}
         env:
           GITLAB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITLAB_PUSH_TOKEN }}