diff --git a/src/or/routerparse.c b/src/or/routerparse.c
index cefe607fc6..a612a94223 100644
--- a/src/or/routerparse.c
+++ b/src/or/routerparse.c
@@ -3204,6 +3204,8 @@ networkstatus_parse_vote_from_string(const char *s, const char **eos_out,
                                                      NULL, NULL,
                                                      ns->consensus_method,
                                                      flav)))
+        /* Use exponential-backoff scheduling when downloading microdescs */
+        rs->dl_status.backoff = DL_SCHED_RANDOM_EXPONENTIAL;
         smartlist_add(ns->routerstatus_list, rs);
     }
   }