diff --git a/.github/workflows/cncf-conformance.yaml b/.github/workflows/cncf-conformance.yaml
index e485ed96..e8dd3784 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cncf-conformance.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cncf-conformance.yaml
@@ -81,14 +81,6 @@ jobs:
             sudo podman exec "${node}" systemctl disable firewalld || true
           done
 
-          # Set default storage class for CNCF conformance tests
-          echo "Setting default storage class annotation..."
-          make env CMD="kubectl annotate storageclass topolvm-provisioner storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class=true"
-
-          # Verify the annotation was applied
-          echo "Verifying default storage class:"
-          make env CMD="kubectl get storageclass topolvm-provisioner -o yaml | grep -A2 annotations"
-
       - name: Run CNCF conformance tests with Sonobuoy
         id: run-sonobuoy
         shell: bash
diff --git a/src/topolvm/assets/02-topolvm.yaml b/src/topolvm/assets/02-topolvm.yaml
index 731324cf..087aa584 100644
--- a/src/topolvm/assets/02-topolvm.yaml
+++ b/src/topolvm/assets/02-topolvm.yaml
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ kind: StorageClass
 metadata:
   name: topolvm-provisioner
   annotations:
+    storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
   labels:
     helm.sh/chart: topolvm-15.5.2
     app.kubernetes.io/name: topolvm
diff --git a/src/topolvm/generate_manifests.sh b/src/topolvm/generate_manifests.sh
index 22ffb28e..6b17b069 100755
--- a/src/topolvm/generate_manifests.sh
+++ b/src/topolvm/generate_manifests.sh
@@ -42,7 +42,12 @@ EOF
   # Patch replicas to 1
   # shellcheck disable=SC2016
   yq 'select(.kind == "Deployment").spec.replicas = 1' -i "${ASSETS_DIR}/02-topolvm.yaml"
-  
+
+  # Annotate topolvm-provisioner StorageClass as default
+  yq 'with(select(.kind == "StorageClass" and .metadata.name == "topolvm-provisioner");
+  .metadata.annotations."storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class" = "true"
+  )' -i "${ASSETS_DIR}/02-topolvm.yaml"
+
   # Patch topolvm-controller manifest with longer startup delay to allow dns to start
   yq 'with(select(.kind == "Deployment" and .metadata.name == "topolvm-controller").spec.template.spec.containers[] | select(.name == "topolvm-controller");
   .livenessProbe.failureThreshold = 3 |