diff --git a/segmentation_models_pytorch/base/hub_mixin.py b/segmentation_models_pytorch/base/hub_mixin.py
index 3840cbad..0e642d2c 100644
--- a/segmentation_models_pytorch/base/hub_mixin.py
+++ b/segmentation_models_pytorch/base/hub_mixin.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ def save_pretrained(
         finally:
             # delete the additional attributes
             self._del_attrs(["save_directory", "metrics", "dataset"])
-            self._hub_mixin_config.pop("_model_class")
+            self._hub_mixin_config.pop("_model_class", None)
 
         return result