diff --git a/azure-pipelines.yml b/azure-pipelines.yml
index ce200cc11..822606065 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,17 @@ trigger:
 
 jobs:
 
+# Perform basic checks for most important errors (syntax etc.) Uses the config
+# defined in .flake8 and overwrites the selected codes.
+- job: 'Validate'
+  steps:
+  - script: |
+      pip install flake8
+      python -m flake8 spacy --count --select=E901,E999,F821,F822,F823 --show-source --statistics
+    displayName: 'flake8'
+
 - job: 'Test'
+  dependsOn: 'Validate'
   strategy:
     matrix:
       Python27Linux:
@@ -61,11 +71,6 @@ jobs:
       pip install -r requirements.txt
     displayName: 'Install dependencies'
 
-  # Perform basic checks for most important errors (syntax etc.) Uses the config
-  # defined in .flake8 and overwrites the selected codes.
-  - script: python -m flake8 spacy --count --select=E901,E999,F821,F822,F823 --show-source --statistics
-    displayName: 'flake8'
-
   - script: |
       python setup.py build_ext --inplace
       pip install -e .