diff --git a/roles/prepare-workspace-git/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/prepare-workspace-git/tasks/main.yaml
index 9b0715d51..ad7da04bf 100644
--- a/roles/prepare-workspace-git/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/prepare-workspace-git/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -1,59 +1,27 @@
-- name: Find locally cached git repos
-  stat:
-    path: "{{ cached_repos_root }}/{{ zj_project.canonical_name }}"
-  with_items: "{{ zuul.projects.values() | list }}"
-  loop_control:
-    loop_var: zj_project
-  register: cached_repos
-
-# We do a bare clone here first so that we skip creating a working copy that
-# will be overwritten later anyway.
-- name: Clone cached repo to workspace
+# Do all the steps in a single shell script. This reduces the number of times
+# ansible must loop over the list of projects which reduces the amount of
+# task startup time we incur.
+- name: Set initial repo states in workspace
   shell: |
-    set -e
-    git clone --bare {{ cached_repos_root }}/{{ zj_project.0.canonical_name }} {{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.0.src_dir }}/.git
-    cd {{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.0.src_dir }}
+    set -ex
+    if [ -d "{{ cached_repos_root }}/{{ zj_project.canonical_name }}" ] ; then
+        # We do a bare clone here first so that we skip creating a working
+        # copy that will be overwritten later anyway.
+        git clone --bare {{ cached_repos_root }}/{{ zj_project.canonical_name }} {{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.src_dir }}/.git
+    else
+        git init {{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.src_dir }}
+    fi
+    cd {{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.src_dir }}
     git config --local --bool core.bare false
-  args:
-    creates: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.0.src_dir }}"
-  when: zj_project.1.stat.exists
-  with_together:
-    - "{{ zuul.projects.values() | list }}"
-    - "{{ cached_repos.results }}"
-  loop_control:
-    loop_var: zj_project
-  # ANSIBLE0006: If we use the git module, we get warning
-  # ANSIBLE0004 since we  do not give an explicit version
-  tags:
-    - skip_ansible_lint
-
-- name: Initialize non-cached repos
-  command: "git init {{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.0.src_dir }}"
-  args:
-    creates: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.0.src_dir }}"
-  when: not zj_project.1.stat.exists
-  with_together:
-    - "{{ zuul.projects.values() | list }}"
-    - "{{ cached_repos.results }}"
-  loop_control:
-    loop_var: zj_project
-  # ANSIBLE0006: If we use the git module, we get warning
-  # ANSIBLE0004 since we  do not give an explicit version
-  tags:
-    - skip_ansible_lint
-
-- name: Remove origin from local git repos and replace it by the zuul fake origin
-  # To be idempotent, remove origin only if it's found in the local list.
-  shell: |
-    set -e
     git remote -v | grep origin && git remote rm origin || true
     git remote add origin file:///dev/null
   args:
-    chdir: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.src_dir }}"
+    creates: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/{{ zj_project.src_dir }}"
   with_items: "{{ zuul.projects.values() | list }}"
   loop_control:
     loop_var: zj_project
-  # ANSIBLE0006: git remote is not supported by ansible module
+  # We're using git in a shell script because it is faster and the module
+  # doesn't support features we need.
   tags:
     - skip_ansible_lint