diff --git a/cebra/integrations/sklearn/utils.py b/cebra/integrations/sklearn/utils.py
index f7b03b8..c1671b9 100644
--- a/cebra/integrations/sklearn/utils.py
+++ b/cebra/integrations/sklearn/utils.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 
 from packaging import version
 from sklearn import __version__ as sklearn_version
+sklearn_version = version.parse(sklearn_version)
 
 
 def update_old_param(old: dict, new: dict, kwargs: dict, default) -> tuple: