diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index b6ea8dce..28f3a281 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -9,14 +9,18 @@ stages:
 variables:
   GIT_STRATEGY:                    fetch
   GIT_DEPTH:                       "100"
-  CARGO_TARGET_DIR:                "/ci-cache/${CI_PROJECT_NAME}/targets/${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}/${CI_JOB_NAME}"
   CARGO_INCREMENTAL:               0
   CI_IMAGE:                        "paritytech/parity-scale-codec:production"
 
-workflow:
-  rules:
-    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
-    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH
+default:
+  cache:                           {}
+  interruptible:                   true
+  retry:
+    max: 2
+    when:
+      - runner_system_failure
+      - unknown_failure
+      - api_failure
 
 .docker-env:                       &docker-env
   image:                           $CI_IMAGE
@@ -25,7 +29,6 @@ workflow:
     - rustc -vV
     - rustup show
     - bash --version
-
   rules:
     - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "trigger"
     - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web"
@@ -34,15 +37,8 @@ workflow:
     - if: $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME == "tags"
     - if: $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME =~ /^[0-9]+$/                         # PRs
     - if: $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME =~ /^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+.*$/              # i.e. v1.0, v2.1rc1
-  interruptible:                   true
-  retry:
-    max: 2
-    when:
-      - runner_system_failure
-      - unknown_failure
-      - api_failure
   tags:
-    - linux-docker
+    - linux-docker-vm-c2
 
 #### stage:                        check