diff --git a/pkg/release/publish.go b/pkg/release/publish.go
index 6fafbe255ad..f2205a1f27f 100644
--- a/pkg/release/publish.go
+++ b/pkg/release/publish.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/blang/semver/v4"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 
 	"sigs.k8s.io/release-sdk/gcli"
@@ -283,7 +284,7 @@ func (p *Publisher) VerifyLatestUpdate(
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("invalid GCS version format %s", gcsVersion)
 	}
 
-	if sv.LTE(gcsSemverVersion) {
+	if IsUpToDate(gcsSemverVersion, sv) {
 		logrus.Infof(
 			"Not updating version, because %s <= %s", version, gcsVersion,
 		)
@@ -294,6 +295,25 @@ func (p *Publisher) VerifyLatestUpdate(
 	return true, nil
 }
 
+func IsUpToDate(oldVersion, newVersion semver.Version) bool {
+	oldPre := oldVersion.Pre
+	newPre := newVersion.Pre
+
+	// Verfy specific use case in our tagging logic:
+	// 1.30.0-rc.2.10+00000000000000
+	// needs to be considered lower than
+	// 1.30.0-11+00000000000000
+	// which is not given by newVersion.LTE(oldVersion) below.
+	if len(oldPre) == 3 && // [rc 2 10]
+		oldPre[0].String() == "rc" &&
+		len(newPre) == 1 && // [11]
+		newPre[0].IsNum {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	return newVersion.LTE(oldVersion)
+}
+
 // PublishToGcs publishes a release to GCS
 // publishFile - the GCS location to look in
 // buildDir - build output directory
diff --git a/pkg/release/publish_test.go b/pkg/release/publish_test.go
index f76d1709cbd..73660f9e8eb 100644
--- a/pkg/release/publish_test.go
+++ b/pkg/release/publish_test.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/blang/semver/v4"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 	"k8s.io/release/pkg/release"
 	"k8s.io/release/pkg/release/releasefakes"
@@ -325,3 +326,42 @@ func TestPublishReleaseNotesIndex(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestIsUpToDate(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		name, oldVersion, newVersion string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:       "Final version after RC",
+			oldVersion: "1.30.0-rc.2.10+00000000000000",
+			newVersion: "1.30.0-11+00000000000000",
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "More commits",
+			oldVersion: "1.30.0-10+00000000000000",
+			newVersion: "1.30.0-11+00000000000000",
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "Newer release",
+			oldVersion: "1.29.0-0+00000000000000",
+			newVersion: "1.29.1-0+00000000000000",
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "Counter reset",
+			oldVersion: "1.30.0-rc.2.10+00000000000000",
+			newVersion: "1.30.0-1+00000000000000",
+		},
+	} {
+		oldVersion := semver.MustParse(tc.oldVersion)
+		newVersion := semver.MustParse(tc.newVersion)
+
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			res := release.IsUpToDate(oldVersion, newVersion)
+			require.False(t, res)
+		})
+	}
+}