diff --git a/internal/mocks/mocks.go b/internal/mocks/mocks.go
index e1f0f6d7ee08247b4ade38a0f62249dca9e8a5f7..2816205dfe42b46d2b30cb90db40d663c76d276c 100644
--- a/internal/mocks/mocks.go
+++ b/internal/mocks/mocks.go
@@ -5,10 +5,9 @@
 package mocks
 
 import (
+	gomock "github.com/golang/mock/gomock"
 	http "net/http"
 	reflect "reflect"
-
-	gomock "github.com/golang/mock/gomock"
 )
 
 // MockArtifact is a mock of Artifact interface
diff --git a/internal/source/gitlab/cache/retriever.go b/internal/source/gitlab/cache/retriever.go
index 865bf88be3677eb37a00fb9a4e58e79adabf6dd8..a3c060125e817b5ba3230625a5d85aa019afddb4 100644
--- a/internal/source/gitlab/cache/retriever.go
+++ b/internal/source/gitlab/cache/retriever.go
@@ -7,9 +7,7 @@ import (
 
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 
-	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/internal/domain"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/internal/source/gitlab/api"
-	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/internal/source/gitlab/client"
 )
 
 // Retriever is an utility type that performs an HTTP request with backoff in
@@ -48,21 +46,22 @@ func (r *Retriever) Retrieve(domain string) (lookup api.Lookup) {
 	return lookup
 }
 
-func (r *Retriever) resolveWithBackoff(ctx context.Context, domainName string) <-chan api.Lookup {
-	response := make(chan api.Lookup)
+func (r *Retriever) resolveWithBackoff(ctx context.Context, domain string) <-chan api.Lookup {
+	response := make(chan api.Lookup, 8)
 
 	go func() {
 		var lookup api.Lookup
 
 		for i := 1; i <= r.maxRetrievalRetries; i++ {
-			lookup = r.client.GetLookup(ctx, domainName)
-			if lookup.Error == nil || errors.Is(lookup.Error, domain.ErrDomainDoesNotExist) ||
-				errors.Is(lookup.Error, client.ErrUnauthorizedAPI) {
-				// do not retry if the domain does not exist or there is an auth error
+			lookup = r.client.GetLookup(ctx, domain)
+
+			if lookup.Error != nil {
+				if !sleepWithContext(ctx, r.maxRetrievalInterval) {
+   					break
+				}
+			} else {
 				break
 			}
-
-			time.Sleep(r.maxRetrievalInterval)
 		}
 
 		response <- lookup
@@ -71,3 +70,14 @@ func (r *Retriever) resolveWithBackoff(ctx context.Context, domainName string) <
 
 	return response
 }
+
+func sleepWithContext(ctx context.Context, d time.Duration) bool {
+	t := time.NewTimer(d)
+	select {
+	case <-ctx.Done():
+		t.Stop()
+		return false
+	case <-t.C:
+		return true
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/source/gitlab/cache/retriever_test.go b/internal/source/gitlab/cache/retriever_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b77591dbce9cb68e131557af75892151b3fd4db6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/source/gitlab/cache/retriever_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+package cache
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestRetrieveTimerStopsWhenContextIsDone(t *testing.T) {
+	retrievalTimeout := time.Millisecond // quick timeout that cancels inner context
+	maxRetrievalInterval := time.Minute  // long sleep inside resolveWithBackoff
+
+	resolver := &client{
+		domain:  make(chan string),
+		lookups: make(chan uint64, 1),
+		failure: errors.New("500 error"),
+	}
+
+	retriever := NewRetriever(resolver, retrievalTimeout, maxRetrievalInterval, 3)
+	// require.False(t, retriever.timer.hasStopped(), "timer has not been stopped yet")
+
+	lookup := retriever.Retrieve("my.gitlab.com")
+	require.Empty(t, lookup.Name)
+	require.Eventually(t, retriever, time.Second, time.Millisecond, "timer must have been stopped")
+}