diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 52ab1c963d6..d4e17df4f6e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ build:publish:
   - *version
   # Now write back the zillow-kserve version back to the original location we found the original so
   # python package managers can reference it as they need the version stored internally.
-  - sed -i "s/version=version/version=\${PY_LIBRARY_VERSION}/" $KSERVE_VERSION_PATH
+  - sed -i "s/version=version/version=${PY_LIBRARY_VERSION}/" $KSERVE_VERSION_PATH
   - cd python/kserve
   - python setup.py sdist
   # Set up the configuration for Artifactory to publish the python package internally.