diff --git a/.readthedocs.yaml b/.readthedocs.yaml
index 9512de6e07..fc6399fa6f 100644
--- a/.readthedocs.yaml
+++ b/.readthedocs.yaml
@@ -25,10 +25,9 @@ build:
       html:
         - pixi run sphinx-build -T -W --keep-going -b html -d _build/doctrees -D language=en doc $READTHEDOCS_OUTPUT/html
       pdf:
-        - pixi run sphinx-build -T -b latex -d _build/doctrees -D language=en doc $READTHEDOCS_OUTPUT/pdf
-        - cd $READTHEDOCS_OUTPUT/pdf
-        - cat latexmkrc
-        - latexmk -r latexmkrc -pdf -f -dvi- -ps- -jobname=esmvalcore -interaction=nonstopmode
+        - pixi run sphinx-build -T -b latex -d _build/doctrees -D language=en doc $READTHEDOCS_OUTPUT/pdf-build
+        - cat $READTHEDOCS_OUTPUT/pdf-build/latexmkrc
+        - cd $READTHEDOCS_OUTPUT/pdf-build && latexmk -r latexmkrc -pdf -f -dvi- -ps- -jobname=esmvalcore -interaction=nonstopmode; mkdir $READTHEDOCS_OUTPUT/pdf && mv esmvalcore.pdf $READTHEDOCS_OUTPUT/pdf
 
 # If using Sphinx, optionally build your docs in additional formats such as PDF
 formats: