diff --git a/main-basop.yml b/main-basop.yml
index 6759971be192f45a951faec33159f6c94c0460c8..6262a4872aac4253df50e6ed2188937deaf19916 100644
--- a/main-basop.yml
+++ b/main-basop.yml
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ workflow:
 .compare-to-ref-anchor: &compare-to-ref-anchor
   stage: test
   needs: ["build-codec-linux-make", "pytest-to-ref-pre"]
-  timeout: "480 minutes"
+  timeout: "12 hours"
   variables:
     # keep "mld" in artifact name for backwards compatibility reasons
     CSV_ARTIFACT_NAME: "mld--$CI_JOB_NAME-$CI_JOB_ID--sha-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA.csv"