diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index ca61c1f8705fcf8744b052e4b2fce109849f14bc..958b744eb304f20e571fa0c34a9836fa9a493383 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -20,4 +20,4 @@
 #   VERSION=1.2.0_RC1_PreRelease_SomeText+hgX -> You can add arbitrary tags to the version string. But be careful. Usually only one tag is useful.
 
 # The current version string:
-VERSION=1.3.0+hgX
+VERSION=1.3.0_RC1+hgX