diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
index 440b8204db..f6c603de06 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
@@ -2914,6 +2914,19 @@ impl Timeline {
 
         let mut max_deltas = 0;
         let wanted_image_layers = self.wanted_image_layers.lock().unwrap();
+        if let Some(wanted) = &*wanted_image_layers {
+            let img_range =
+                partition.ranges.first().unwrap().start..partition.ranges.last().unwrap().end;
+            if let Some((_start, end)) = wanted.range(..img_range.end).next_back() {
+                if *end > img_range.start {
+                    info!(
+                        "Force generation of layer {}-{} wanted by GC)",
+                        img_range.start, img_range.end
+                    );
+                    return Ok(true);
+                }
+            }
+        }
 
         for part_range in &partition.ranges {
             let image_coverage = layers.image_coverage(part_range, lsn)?;
@@ -2947,26 +2960,6 @@ impl Timeline {
                         );
                         return Ok(true);
                     }
-                    if num_deltas > 0 {
-                        if let Some(wanted) = &*wanted_image_layers {
-                            if let Some((_start, end)) = wanted.range(..img_range.end).next_back() {
-                                if *end > img_range.start {
-                                    info!(
-                                        "Force generation of layer {}-{} wanted by GC ({} deltas)",
-                                        img_range.start, img_range.end, num_deltas
-                                    );
-                                    return Ok(true);
-                                } else {
-                                    info!(
-                                        "Image {}-{} is not wanted",
-                                        img_range.start, img_range.end
-                                    );
-                                }
-                            }
-                        }
-                    } else {
-                        info!("No deltas for range  {}-{}", img_range.start, img_range.end);
-                    }
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -3871,23 +3864,17 @@ impl Timeline {
                                         end = *prev_end;
                                     }
                                 }
-                                break;
                             } else {
-                                to_remove.push(*prev_start);
-                                if *prev_end > end {
-                                    end = *prev_end;
-                                }
+                                break;
                             }
-                        } else {
-                            break;
                         }
-                    }
-                    for key in to_remove {
-                        wanted_image_layers.remove(&key);
-                    }
-                    if insert_new_range {
-                        info!("Wanted image {}..{}", start, end);
-                        wanted_image_layers.insert(start, end);
+                        for key in to_remove {
+                            wanted_image_layers.remove(&key);
+                        }
+                        if insert_new_range {
+                            info!("Wanted image {}..{}", start, end);
+                            wanted_image_layers.insert(start, end);
+                        }
                     }
                 }
                 result.layers_not_updated += 1;