diff --git a/pkg/controlplane/controller/leaderelection/leasecandidategc_controller_test.go b/pkg/controlplane/controller/leaderelection/leasecandidategc_controller_test.go
index b845d62b8dd..0a381809dfc 100644
--- a/pkg/controlplane/controller/leaderelection/leasecandidategc_controller_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controlplane/controller/leaderelection/leasecandidategc_controller_test.go
@@ -115,9 +115,6 @@ func TestLeaseCandidateGCController(t *testing.T) {
 			leaseCandidateInformer := informerFactory.Coordination().V1alpha1().LeaseCandidates()
 			controller := NewLeaseCandidateGC(client, 10*time.Millisecond, leaseCandidateInformer)
 
-			informerFactory.Start(ctx.Done())
-			informerFactory.WaitForCacheSync(ctx.Done())
-
 			// Create lease candidates
 			for _, lc := range tc.leaseCandidates {
 				_, err := client.CoordinationV1alpha1().LeaseCandidates(lc.Namespace).Create(ctx, lc, metav1.CreateOptions{})
@@ -126,7 +123,8 @@ func TestLeaseCandidateGCController(t *testing.T) {
 				}
 			}
 
-			cache.WaitForCacheSync(ctx.Done(), controller.leaseCandidatesSynced)
+			informerFactory.Start(ctx.Done())
+			informerFactory.WaitForCacheSync(ctx.Done())
 
 			go controller.Run(ctx)
 			err := wait.PollUntilContextTimeout(ctx, 100*time.Millisecond, 600*time.Second, true, func(ctx context.Context) (done bool, err error) {