diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-lancedb.yml b/.github/workflows/build-lancedb.yml
index 813f46d0344..8e4a89e364c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-lancedb.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-lancedb.yml
@@ -74,7 +74,11 @@ jobs:
           sparse-checkout: patches/lancedb
           persist-credentials: false
 
+      # lance >= 13.0.0 (lancedb >= v0.40.0) ships the riscv64 SIMD fallback
+      # itself (lancedb/lance#9446), so those versions carry no patches and
+      # skip the redirect to a patched lance checkout below.
       - name: Apply lancedb patches
+        if: hashFiles(format('python-wheels/patches/lancedb/{0}/*.patch', env.LANCEDB_VERSION)) != ''
         run: git apply -v python-wheels/patches/lancedb/${{ env.LANCEDB_VERSION }}/0001*.patch
 
       # lancedb pins lance-core/lance-linalg to a different exact version per
@@ -82,14 +86,16 @@ jobs:
       # so the sibling checkout below must track whatever this lancedb tag's
       # own Cargo.toml pins rather than a fixed tag.
       - name: Determine the lance-core/lance-linalg version lancedb pins
+        if: hashFiles(format('python-wheels/patches/lancedb/{0}/*.patch', env.LANCEDB_VERSION)) != ''
         run: echo "LANCE_VERSION=$(grep -m1 '^lance-core = ' Cargo.toml | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+')" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
       # lance-core's SIMD_SUPPORT static and lance-linalg's f32x8/f32x16/
       # i32x8/f64x4/f64x8 SIMD types compile only for x86_64/aarch64/
-      # loongarch64 upstream; the 0002 patch adds a portable riscv64 fallback
-      # to this checkout, and Cargo.toml's `[patch.crates-io]` (0001) redirects
-      # both crates here.
+      # loongarch64 before lance 13.0.0; the 0002 patch adds a portable riscv64
+      # fallback to this checkout, and Cargo.toml's `[patch.crates-io]` (0001)
+      # redirects both crates here.
       - name: Checkout lance v${{ env.LANCE_VERSION }} and add a riscv64 SIMD fallback
+        if: hashFiles(format('python-wheels/patches/lancedb/{0}/*.patch', env.LANCEDB_VERSION)) != ''
         uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1  # v7.0.1
         with:
           repository: lancedb/lance
@@ -98,6 +104,7 @@ jobs:
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - name: Apply lance patches
+        if: hashFiles(format('python-wheels/patches/lancedb/{0}/*.patch', env.LANCEDB_VERSION)) != ''
         run: cd lance && git apply -v ../python-wheels/patches/lancedb/${{ env.LANCEDB_VERSION }}/0002*.patch
 
       - name: Free disk space
diff --git a/docs/packages/lancedb.yaml b/docs/packages/lancedb.yaml
index aada5fc930c..79aef63062f 100644
--- a/docs/packages/lancedb.yaml
+++ b/docs/packages/lancedb.yaml
@@ -23,3 +23,4 @@ versions:
   - filename: lancedb-0.39.0-cp310-abi3-manylinux_2_39_riscv64.whl
     sha256: 758156284cb0b1d87d14fddc9066c7c7fba2c16f847a90d5d70dd7ee694a0283
     requires-python: '>=3.10'
+- version: 0.40.0