diff --git a/tensorflow/core/public/version.h b/tensorflow/core/public/version.h
index 48d7971a519660..1498c7f75b053e 100644
--- a/tensorflow/core/public/version.h
+++ b/tensorflow/core/public/version.h
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 // TF_VERSION_SUFFIX is non-empty for pre-releases (e.g. "-alpha", "-alpha.1",
 // "-beta", "-rc", "-rc.1")
-#define TF_VERSION_SUFFIX ""
+#define TF_VERSION_SUFFIX "-rc0"
 
 #define TF_STR_HELPER(x) #x
 #define TF_STR(x) TF_STR_HELPER(x)
diff --git a/tensorflow/tools/pip_package/setup.py b/tensorflow/tools/pip_package/setup.py
index 52e655ba6fde72..cc909a42c11f83 100644
--- a/tensorflow/tools/pip_package/setup.py
+++ b/tensorflow/tools/pip_package/setup.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 # result for pip.
 # Also update tensorflow/tensorflow.bzl and
 # tensorflow/core/public/version.h
-_VERSION = '2.5.0'
+_VERSION = '2.5.0-rc0'
 
 
 # We use the same setup.py for all tensorflow_* packages and for the nightly