diff --git a/.pipelines/cni/pipeline.yaml b/.pipelines/cni/pipeline.yaml
index 3fda84f807..d49db1f45b 100644
--- a/.pipelines/cni/pipeline.yaml
+++ b/.pipelines/cni/pipeline.yaml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stages:
       name: cilium
       clusterType: "overlay-no-kube-proxy-up"
       clusterName: "cilium-overlay"
-      nodeCount: 10
+      nodeCount: ${LINUX_NODE_COUNT}
       vmSize: "Standard_DS4_v2"
       dependsOn: setup
   - template: singletenancy/windows-cni-load-test-template.yaml