diff --git a/spacy/tests/serialize/test_io.py b/spacy/tests/serialize/test_io.py
index 4157ee309..f90bb20c2 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/serialize/test_io.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/serialize/test_io.py
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ def test_lemmas(EN):
     orig = EN(u'The geese are flying')
     result = Doc(orig.vocab).from_bytes(orig.to_bytes())
     the, geese, are, flying = result
-    assert the.lemma_ == 'the'
     assert geese.lemma_ == 'goose'
     assert are.lemma_ == 'be'
     assert flying.lemma_ == 'fly'