diff --git a/smoke/venv.sh b/smoke/venv.sh
index 4281e5c..17528b4 100755
--- a/smoke/venv.sh
+++ b/smoke/venv.sh
@@ -35,7 +35,10 @@ if [ "$VERSION" == "2.6" ]; then
     pip install Cython --install-option="--no-cython-compile"
 else
     python -m pip install pytest
-    if [ "$PYTHON" != "jython" ]; then
+    if [ "$VERSION" == "3.8" ]; then
+        # Cython support for 3.8.0a4+ is not yet released
+        python -m pip install https://github.com/cython/cython/archive/master.tar.gz --install-option="--no-cython-compile"
+    elif [ "$PYTHON" != "jython" ]; then
         # We try to fetch a wheel only and if that fails, we disable compilation
         # Useful for fresh CPythons, where wheels are not yet ready, but Cython defaults to compiling
         python -m pip install Cython --only-binary :all: || python -m pip install Cython --install-option="--no-cython-compile"