diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.d/base.yml b/.gitlab-ci.d/base.yml
index 2dd8a9b57c..bf3d8efab6 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/base.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/base.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ variables:
     # Each script line from will be in a collapsible section in the job output
     # and show the duration of each line.
     FF_SCRIPT_SECTIONS: 1
+    # The project has a fairly fat GIT repo so we try and avoid bringing in things
+    # we don't need. The --filter options avoid blobs and tree references we aren't going to use
+    # and we also avoid fetching tags.
+    GIT_FETCH_EXTRA_FLAGS: --filter=blob:none --filter=tree:0 --no-tags --prune --quiet
 
   interruptible: true
 
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml
index 4fbfeb6667..22045add80 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
     - export CCACHE_DIR="$CCACHE_BASEDIR/ccache"
     - export CCACHE_MAXSIZE="500M"
     - export PATH="$CCACHE_WRAPPERSDIR:$PATH"
+    - du -sh .git
     - mkdir build
     - cd build
     - ccache --zero-stats
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml
index c7d92fc301..cfdff175c3 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml
@@ -187,6 +187,8 @@ build-previous-qemu:
   variables:
     IMAGE: opensuse-leap
     TARGETS: x86_64-softmmu aarch64-softmmu
+    # Override the default flags as we need more to grab the old version
+    GIT_FETCH_EXTRA_FLAGS: --prune --quiet
   before_script:
     - export QEMU_PREV_VERSION="$(sed 's/\([0-9.]*\)\.[0-9]*/v\1.0/' VERSION)"
     - git remote add upstream https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.d/custom-runners.yml b/.gitlab-ci.d/custom-runners.yml
index 8e5b9500f4..a0e79acd39 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/custom-runners.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/custom-runners.yml
@@ -10,13 +10,14 @@
 # gitlab-runner.  To avoid problems that gitlab-runner can cause while
 # reusing the GIT repository, let's enable the clone strategy, which
 # guarantees a fresh repository on each job run.
-variables:
-  GIT_STRATEGY: clone
 
 # All custom runners can extend this template to upload the testlog
 # data as an artifact and also feed the junit report
 .custom_runner_template:
   extends: .base_job_template
+  variables:
+    GIT_STRATEGY: clone
+    GIT_FETCH_EXTRA_FLAGS: --no-tags --prune --quiet
   artifacts:
     name: "$CI_JOB_NAME-$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG"
     expire_in: 7 days
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.d/windows.yml b/.gitlab-ci.d/windows.yml
index f116b8012d..94834269ec 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/windows.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/windows.yml
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ msys2-64bit:
     # qTests don't run successfully with "--without-default-devices",
     # so let's exclude the qtests from CI for now.
     TEST_ARGS: --no-suite qtest
+    # The Windows git is a bit older so override the default
+    GIT_FETCH_EXTRA_FLAGS: --no-tags --prune --quiet
   artifacts:
     name: "$CI_JOB_NAME-$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG"
     expire_in: 7 days