diff --git a/swh/lister/gitlab/tests/test_lister.py b/swh/lister/gitlab/tests/test_lister.py
index 04c3e1b..14d1bc4 100644
--- a/swh/lister/gitlab/tests/test_lister.py
+++ b/swh/lister/gitlab/tests/test_lister.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from requests.status_codes import codes
 from swh.lister import USER_AGENT
 from swh.lister.gitlab.lister import GitLabLister, _parse_page_id
 from swh.lister.pattern import ListerStats
-from swh.lister.tests.test_utils import _assert_sleep_calls
+from swh.lister.tests.test_utils import assert_sleep_calls
 from swh.lister.utils import WAIT_EXP_BASE
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ def test_lister_gitlab_rate_limit(swh_scheduler, requests_mock, datadir, mocker)
     expected_nb_origins = len(response1) + len(response2)
     assert listed_result == ListerStats(pages=2, origins=expected_nb_origins)
 
-    _assert_sleep_calls(mocker, mock_sleep, [1, WAIT_EXP_BASE])
+    assert_sleep_calls(mocker, mock_sleep, [1, WAIT_EXP_BASE])
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
diff --git a/swh/lister/tests/test_utils.py b/swh/lister/tests/test_utils.py
index bf804fc..68aed42 100644
--- a/swh/lister/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/swh/lister/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ def make_request():
     return response
 
 
-def _assert_sleep_calls(mocker, mock_sleep, sleep_params):
+def assert_sleep_calls(mocker, mock_sleep, sleep_params):
     try:
         mock_sleep.assert_has_calls([mocker.call(param) for param in sleep_params])
     except AssertionError:
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ def test_throttling_retry(requests_mock, mocker):
 
     response = make_request()
 
-    _assert_sleep_calls(mocker, mock_sleep, [1, WAIT_EXP_BASE])
+    assert_sleep_calls(mocker, mock_sleep, [1, WAIT_EXP_BASE])
 
     assert response.json() == data
 
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ def test_throttling_retry_max_attemps(requests_mock, mocker):
 
     assert e.value.response.status_code == codes.too_many_requests
 
-    _assert_sleep_calls(
+    assert_sleep_calls(
         mocker,
         mock_sleep,
         [float(WAIT_EXP_BASE ** i) for i in range(MAX_NUMBER_ATTEMPTS - 1)],
@@ -130,4 +130,4 @@ def test_throttling_retry_wait_fixed(requests_mock, mocker):
 
     make_request_wait_fixed()
 
-    _assert_sleep_calls(mocker, mock_sleep, [WAIT_EXP_BASE] * 2)
+    assert_sleep_calls(mocker, mock_sleep, [WAIT_EXP_BASE] * 2)