diff --git a/vcs2l/clients/git.py b/vcs2l/clients/git.py
index 012fd69..7a456e8 100644
--- a/vcs2l/clients/git.py
+++ b/vcs2l/clients/git.py
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ def import_(self, command):
             cmd_fetch = [GitClient._executable, 'fetch', remote]
             if command.shallow:
                 result_version_type, version_name = self._check_version_type(
-                    command.url, checkout_version
+                    command.url, checkout_version, command.retry
                 )
                 if result_version_type['returncode']:
                     return result_version_type
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ def import_(self, command):
             version_type = None
             if command.version:
                 result_version_type, version_name = self._check_version_type(
-                    command.url, command.version
+                    command.url, command.version, command.retry
                 )
                 if result_version_type['returncode']:
                     return result_version_type
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ def _get_remote_urls(self):
             'returncode': 0 if remote_urls else 1,
         }
 
-    def _check_version_type(self, url, version):
+    def _check_version_type(self, url, version, retry=0):
         # check if version starts with heads/ or tags/
         prefixes = {
             'heads/': 'branch',
@@ -540,7 +540,7 @@ def _check_version_type(self, url, version):
                 }, version[len(prefix) :]
 
         cmd = [GitClient._executable, 'ls-remote', url, version]
-        result = self._run_command(cmd)
+        result = self._run_command(cmd, retry=retry)
         if result['returncode']:
             result['output'] = (
                 'Could not determine ref type of version: ' + result['output']
diff --git a/vcs2l/clients/vcs_base.py b/vcs2l/clients/vcs_base.py
index b4beb18..50ebd36 100644
--- a/vcs2l/clients/vcs_base.py
+++ b/vcs2l/clients/vcs_base.py
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 import os
 import socket
 import subprocess
+import sys
 import time
 from urllib.error import HTTPError, URLError
 from urllib.request import Request, urlopen
 
+from vcs2l.executor import ansi
+
 
 class VcsClientBase(object):
     type = None
@@ -35,6 +38,13 @@ def _not_applicable(self, command, message=None):
 
     def _run_command(self, cmd, env=None, retry=0):
         for i in range(retry + 1):
+            if i > 0:
+                print(
+                    ansi('yellowf')
+                    + 'Retrying command (%d/%d): %s' % (i, retry, ' '.join(cmd))
+                    + ansi('reset'),
+                    file=sys.stderr,
+                )
             result = run_command(cmd, os.path.abspath(self.path), env=env)
             if not result['returncode']:
                 # return successful result