diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c6e5072b781ffdc610924a5a3cbe176e0285324e..94b3e38662b93415c95454345559a5fd0dca160b 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -107,8 +107,9 @@ ubuntu:
       - $ENABLE_NIGHTLY_BUILDS
   image: i10git.cs.fau.de:5005/pycodegen/pycodegen/ubuntu
   before_script:
-    # - apt-get -y remove python3-sympy
+    - apt-get -y remove python3-sympy
     - ln -s /usr/include/locale.h /usr/include/xlocale.h
+    - pip3 install `grep -Eo 'sympy[>=]+[0-9\.]+' setup.py | sed 's/>/=/g'`
     # - pip3 install `grep -Eo 'sympy[>=]+[0-9\.]+' setup.py | sed 's/>/=/g'`
   script:
     - export NUM_CORES=$(nproc --all)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5e2cfc8668c24c735c0ea17ae3cc461f42c42459..79b2173204e6d9d604f31c8bb6e66f2fe43b4713 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ setuptools.setup(name='pystencils',
                  author_email='cs10-codegen@fau.de',
                  url='https://i10git.cs.fau.de/pycodegen/pystencils/',
                  packages=['pystencils'] + ['pystencils.' + s for s in setuptools.find_packages('pystencils')],
-                 install_requires=['sympy>=1.5.1,<=1.9', 'numpy>=1.8.0', 'appdirs', 'joblib'],
+                 install_requires=['sympy>=1.6,<=1.9', 'numpy>=1.8.0', 'appdirs', 'joblib'],
                  package_data={'pystencils': ['include/*.h',
                                               'backends/cuda_known_functions.txt',
                                               'backends/opencl1.1_known_functions.txt',