diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 63ed874..021b6e0 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Table of Contents
 
 1. Code should follow camel case
 2. Code should follow [SwiftFormat](https://github.com/nicklockwood/SwiftFormat#swift-package-manager-plugin) guidelines. You can auto-format the code by running the following command:
+
 ```bash
 swift package plugin --allow-writing-to-package-directory swiftformat --cache ignore .
 ```
diff --git a/Sources/tart/VMStorageOCI.swift b/Sources/tart/VMStorageOCI.swift
index 5cd51f7..f71c547 100644
--- a/Sources/tart/VMStorageOCI.swift
+++ b/Sources/tart/VMStorageOCI.swift
@@ -27,12 +27,12 @@ class VMStorageOCI: PrunableStorage {
     return digest
   }
 
-  func open(_ name: RemoteName) throws -> VMDirectory {
+  func open(_ name: RemoteName, _ accessDate: Date = Date()) throws -> VMDirectory {
     let vmDir = VMDirectory(baseURL: vmURL(name))
 
     try vmDir.validate(userFriendlyName: name.description)
 
-    try vmDir.baseURL.updateAccessDate()
+    try vmDir.baseURL.updateAccessDate(accessDate)
 
     return vmDir
   }
@@ -180,6 +180,10 @@ class VMStorageOCI: PrunableStorage {
       let transaction = SentrySDK.startTransaction(name: name.description, operation: "pull", bindToScope: true)
       let tmpVMDir = try VMDirectory.temporaryDeterministic(key: name.description)
 
+      // Open an existing VM directory corresponding to this name, if any,
+      // marking it as outdated to speed up the garbage collection process
+      _ = try? open(name, Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 0))
+
       // Lock the temporary VM directory to prevent it's garbage collection
       let tmpVMDirLock = try FileLock(lockURL: tmpVMDir.baseURL)
       try tmpVMDirLock.lock()