diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 2c143b5d1..e0e67a019 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ image-ubuntu-cloud-24.04-x86_64:
     # TODO: transform to inject ^...$ to properly select jobs to run.
     - mkdir -p spread-logs spread-artifacts
     - ./spread -list $SPREAD_ARGS |
-      split --number=l/${CI_NODE_INDEX:-1}/"${CI_NODE_TOTAL:-1}" |
+      split --number=l/"${CI_NODE_INDEX:-1}"/"${CI_NODE_TOTAL:-1}" |
       xargs --verbose ./spread -v -artifacts ./spread-artifacts -v | tee spread-logs/"$GARDEN_SYSTEM".log
     - printf '\e[0K%s:%s:%s\r\e[0K\n' section_end "$(date +%s)" run_spread
   artifacts: