diff --git a/rust2rpm/__main__.py b/rust2rpm/__main__.py
index e504682..61e5567 100644
--- a/rust2rpm/__main__.py
+++ b/rust2rpm/__main__.py
@@ -150,14 +150,27 @@ def local_crate(crate, version):
     cratename, version = os.path.basename(crate)[:-6].rsplit("-", 1)
     return crate, cratename, version
 
+def query_newest_version(crate):
+    url = requests.compat.urljoin(API_URL, f"crates/{crate}/versions")
+    req = requests.get(url, headers={"User-Agent": "rust2rpm"})
+    req.raise_for_status()
+    versions = req.json()["versions"]
+    for struct in versions:
+        version = struct["num"]
+        if struct["yanked"]:
+            print(f'Ignoring yanked version {version}')
+        elif re.search('alpha|beta|rc|pre', version):
+            print(f'Ignoring pre-release version {version}')
+        else:
+            print(f'Found version {version}')
+            return version
+
+    raise ValueError("Couldn't find any release versions. Specify a version explicitly.")
+
 def download(crate, version):
     if version is None:
         # Now we need to get latest version
-        url = requests.compat.urljoin(API_URL, f"crates/{crate}/versions")
-        req = requests.get(url, headers={"User-Agent": "rust2rpm"})
-        req.raise_for_status()
-        versions = req.json()["versions"]
-        version = next(version["num"] for version in versions if not version["yanked"])
+        version = query_newest_version(crate)
 
     os.makedirs(CACHEDIR, exist_ok=True)
     cratef_base = f"{crate}-{version}.crate"