diff --git a/roles/check-python-release/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/check-python-release/tasks/main.yaml
index 1336b1246d..3d1e83ea72 100644
--- a/roles/check-python-release/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/check-python-release/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@
     virtualenv: "{{ check_python_release_virtualenv }}"
     virtualenv_python: "{{ release_python }}"
     chdir: "{{ zuul_work_dir }}"
+  # Pygments needs to be installed to allow the metadata and README
+  # check parse project READMEs that have code blocks in the
+  # README.rst file.
+  pip:
+    name: Pygments
+    virtualenv: "{{ check_python_release_virtualenv }}"
+    virtualenv_python: "{{ release_python }}"
+    chdir: "{{ zuul_work_dir }}"
 
 - name: Check the package metadata and README format
   command: "{{ check_python_release_virtualenv }}/bin/{{ release_python }} setup.py check --restructuredtext --strict"