diff --git a/components/content-service/pkg/git/git.go b/components/content-service/pkg/git/git.go
index fc14e8ddfb4dd8..b4eacbebe9f22e 100644
--- a/components/content-service/pkg/git/git.go
+++ b/components/content-service/pkg/git/git.go
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ func (c *Client) Clone(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 		log.WithError(err).Error("cannot create clone location")
 	}
 
-	args := []string{"--depth=1", "--no-single-branch", c.RemoteURI}
+	args := []string{"--depth=1", c.RemoteURI}
 
 	for key, value := range c.Config {
 		args = append(args, "--config")
diff --git a/components/content-service/pkg/initializer/git.go b/components/content-service/pkg/initializer/git.go
index 2eade19f4cb469..97c4fa6fdc7d17 100644
--- a/components/content-service/pkg/initializer/git.go
+++ b/components/content-service/pkg/initializer/git.go
@@ -84,8 +84,16 @@ func (ws *GitInitializer) Run(ctx context.Context, mappings []archive.IDMapping)
 					Err: fmt.Errorf("Access denied. Please check that Gitpod was given permission to access the repository"),
 				}
 			}
+
+			return err
 		}
-		return err
+
+		err = ws.Git(ctx, "config", "--replace-all", "remote.origin.fetch", "+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*")
+		if err != nil {
+			log.WithError(err).WithField("location", ws.Location).Error("cannot configure fecth behavior")
+		}
+
+		return nil
 	}
 	onGitCloneFailure := func(e error, d time.Duration) {
 		if err := os.RemoveAll(ws.Location); err != nil {
@@ -162,14 +170,14 @@ func (ws *GitInitializer) realizeCloneTarget(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 	switch ws.TargetMode {
 	case RemoteBranch:
 		// check remote branch exists before git checkout
-		gitout, err := ws.Client.GitWithOutput(ctx, nil, "ls-remote", "origin", ws.CloneTarget)
+		gitout, err := ws.GitWithOutput(ctx, nil, "ls-remote", "origin", ws.CloneTarget)
 		if err != nil || len(gitout) == 0 {
 			log.WithError(err).WithField("remoteURI", ws.RemoteURI).WithField("branch", ws.CloneTarget).Error("Remote branch doesn't exist.")
 			return err
 		}
-		// create local branch based on specific remote branch
-		if err := ws.Git(ctx, "checkout", "-B", ws.CloneTarget, "origin/"+ws.CloneTarget); err != nil {
-			log.WithError(err).WithField("remoteURI", ws.RemoteURI).WithField("branch", ws.CloneTarget).Error("Cannot checkout remote branch.")
+
+		if err := ws.Git(ctx, "switch", "-C", ws.CloneTarget); err != nil {
+			log.WithError(err).WithField("remoteURI", ws.RemoteURI).WithField("branch", ws.CloneTarget).Error("Cannot fetch remote branch")
 			return err
 		}
 	case LocalBranch:
@@ -186,7 +194,7 @@ func (ws *GitInitializer) realizeCloneTarget(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 		}
 
 		// checkout specific commit
-		if err := ws.Git(ctx, "checkout", ws.CloneTarget); err != nil {
+		if err := ws.Git(ctx, "switch", "-C", ws.CloneTarget); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	default:
diff --git a/test/tests/workspace/contexts_test.go b/test/tests/workspace/contexts_test.go
index 5e30ccc42a6c43..b61054a30d1c1e 100644
--- a/test/tests/workspace/contexts_test.go
+++ b/test/tests/workspace/contexts_test.go
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ func TestGitHubContexts(t *testing.T) {
 			Name:           "open tag",
 			ContextURL:     "github.com/gitpod-io/gitpod-test-repo/tree/integration-test-context-tag",
 			WorkspaceRoot:  "/workspace/gitpod-test-repo",
-			ExpectedBranch: "HEAD",
+			ExpectedBranch: "a89cab1135a2d05901ca3021d1608f24a0400932",
 		},
 		{
 			Name:           "Git LFS support",