diff --git a/src/borg/__init__.py b/src/borg/__init__.py
index 986485b2e2..459300768e 100644
--- a/src/borg/__init__.py
+++ b/src/borg/__init__.py
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@
 from ._version import version as __version__
 
 
-_v = parse_version(__version__)
-__version_tuple__ = _v._version.release
+__version_tuple__ = parse_version(__version__).release
 
 # assert that all semver components are integers
 # this is mainly to show errors when people repackage poorly