diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index ac29c2b1ae..d39098d9ab 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -1626,7 +1626,7 @@ static int do_fetch(struct transport *transport,
 				break;
 			}
 		}
-	} else if (transport->remote && transport->remote->fetch.nr)
+	} else if (transport->remote->fetch.nr)
 		refspec_ref_prefixes(&transport->remote->fetch,
 				     &transport_ls_refs_options.ref_prefixes);