diff --git a/setuptools/tests/test_virtualenv.py b/setuptools/tests/test_virtualenv.py
index f13f7997e3..9cf6d30f7d 100644
--- a/setuptools/tests/test_virtualenv.py
+++ b/setuptools/tests/test_virtualenv.py
@@ -74,10 +74,15 @@ def mark(param, *marks):
     def skip_network(param):
         return param if network else mark(param, pytest.mark.skip(reason="no network"))
 
+    issue2599 = pytest.mark.skipif(
+        sys.version_info > (3, 10),
+        reason="pypa/setuptools#2599",
+    )
+
     network_versions = [
-        'pip==9.0.3',
-        'pip==10.0.1',
-        'pip==18.1',
+        mark('pip==9.0.3', issue2599),
+        mark('pip==10.0.1', issue2599),
+        mark('pip==18.1', issue2599),
         mark('pip==19.3.1', pytest.mark.xfail(reason='pypa/pip#6599')),
         'pip==20.0.2',
         'https://github.com/pypa/pip/archive/master.zip',