diff --git a/roles/download/defaults/main.yml b/roles/download/defaults/main.yml
index 925c83efd..717df9963 100644
--- a/roles/download/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/download/defaults/main.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ local_release_dir: /tmp/releases
 # Used to only evaluate vars from download role
 skip_downloads: false
 
+# Optionally skip kubeadm images download
+skip_kubeadm_images: false
+
 # if this is set to true will only download files once. Doesn't work
 # on Container Linux by CoreOS unless the download_localhost is true and localhost
 # is running another OS type. Default compress level is 1 (fastest).
diff --git a/roles/download/tasks/main.yml b/roles/download/tasks/main.yml
index 174085f2d..b4d713f36 100644
--- a/roles/download/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/download/tasks/main.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
   when:
     - kube_version is version('v1.11.0', '>=')
     - not skip_downloads|default(false)
+    - not skip_kubeadm_images|default(false)
     - inventory_hostname in groups['kube-master']
 
 - name: Set kubeadm_images