diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 3fc53e3f291334c4e421faeb4bc61efd43635b51..6eee55f7f27c884bf46f8f299e6fd4db155e7029 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ create-debian-packages:
   script:
     - mkdir debian
     - |
-      cat <<EOD | sed -e "s/##TAB##/\t/g" > debian/rules
+      cat <<EOD | sed -e "s/##TAB##/\\t/g" > debian/rules
       #!/usr/bin/make -f
       %:
       ##TAB##dh $@ --with dist-zilla