diff --git a/core/modules/auto_updates/.gitlab-ci.yml b/core/modules/auto_updates/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6112efa8de493332bce2b50d8ce47407496adc65..e7641f8f2ac5533e5d54b6227b8aaa1d9a84b45d 100644
--- a/core/modules/auto_updates/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/core/modules/auto_updates/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ include:
     # - Minor or Major latests - `ref: 1.x-latest` or `ref: 1.0.x-latest` - Get the latest additions within a minor (mostly bugfixes) or major (bugs and new features).
     # - Fixed tag - `ref: 1.0.1` - Set the value to a known tag. This will not get any updates.
     # If you change the default value of ref, you should set the _CURL_TEMPLATES_REF variable in the variables section to be the same as set here.
-    ref: main
+    ref: $_GITLAB_TEMPLATES_REF
     file:
       - '/includes/include.drupalci.main.yml'
       # EXPERIMENTAL: For Drupal 7, remove the above line and uncomment the below.