diff --git a/virtme_ng/mainline.py b/virtme_ng/mainline.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..569e8eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/virtme_ng/mainline.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# -*- mode: python -*-
+# Copyright 2023 Andrea Righi
+
+"""virtme-ng: mainline kernel downloader."""
+
+import os
+import re
+import sys
+import subprocess
+from glob import glob
+import requests
+from virtme_ng.utils import CACHE_DIR, spinner_decorator
+
+BASE_URL = "https://kernel.ubuntu.com/mainline"
+
+HTTP_CHUNK = 4096
+HTTP_TIMEOUT = 30
+
+
+class KernelDownloader:
+    def __init__(self, version, arch="amd64", verbose=False):
+        # Initialize cache directory
+        self.kernel_dir = f"{CACHE_DIR}/{version}/{arch}"
+        os.makedirs(self.kernel_dir, exist_ok=True)
+
+        # Fetch and extract precompiled mainline kernel
+        self.target = f"{CACHE_DIR}/{version}/{arch}/boot/vmlinuz-*"
+        if not glob(self.target):
+            url = BASE_URL + "/" + version + "/" + arch
+            if verbose:
+                sys.stderr.write(f"use {version}/{arch} pre-compiled kernel from {url}\n")
+            self._fetch_kernel(url)
+
+    def _download_file(self, url, destination):
+        response = requests.get(url, stream=True, timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT)
+        if response.status_code == 200:
+            with open(destination, 'wb') as file:
+                for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=HTTP_CHUNK):
+                    file.write(chunk)
+        else:
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"failed to download {url}, error: {response.status_code}")
+
+    @spinner_decorator(message="📥 downloading kernel")
+    def _fetch_kernel(self, url):
+        response = requests.get(url, timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT)
+        if response.status_code == 200:
+            href_pattern = re.compile(r'href=["\']([^\s"\']+.deb)["\']')
+            matches = href_pattern.findall(response.text)
+            for match in matches:
+                # Skip headers packages
+                if 'headers' in match:
+                    continue
+                # Skip if package is already downloaded
+                deb_file = f"{self.kernel_dir}/{match}"
+                if os.path.exists(deb_file):
+                    continue
+                self._download_file(url + "/" + match, deb_file)
+                subprocess.check_call(['dpkg', '-x', deb_file, self.kernel_dir])
+            if not glob(f"{self.kernel_dir}/*.deb"):
+                raise FileNotFoundError(f"could not find kernel packages at {url}")
+        else:
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"failed to retrieve content, error: {response.status_code}")
diff --git a/virtme_ng/run.py b/virtme_ng/run.py
index 19bbd7f..7367a31 100644
--- a/virtme_ng/run.py
+++ b/virtme_ng/run.py
@@ -28,23 +28,11 @@ def autocomplete(*args, **kwargs):
         pass
 
 from virtme.util import SilentError, uname, get_username
-from virtme_ng.utils import CONF_FILE
-from virtme_ng.spinner import Spinner
+from virtme_ng.utils import CONF_FILE, spinner_decorator
+from virtme_ng.mainline import KernelDownloader
 from virtme_ng.version import VERSION
 
 
-def spinner_decorator(message):
-    def decorator(func):
-        def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
-            with Spinner(message=message):
-                result = func(*args, **kwargs)
-                return result
-
-        return wrapper
-
-    return decorator
-
-
 def check_call_cmd(command, quiet=False, dry_run=False):
     if dry_run:
         print(" ".join(command))
@@ -776,7 +764,22 @@ def _get_virtme_overlay_rwdir(self, args):
 
     def _get_virtme_run(self, args):
         if args.run is not None:
-            self.virtme_param["kdir"] = "--kimg " + args.run
+            # If an upstream version is specified (using an upstream tag) fetch
+            # and run the corresponding kernel from the Ubuntu mainline
+            # repository.
+            if args.run.startswith('v'):
+                if args.arch is None:
+                    arch = 'amd64'
+                else:
+                    arch = args.arch
+                try:
+                    mainline = KernelDownloader(args.run, arch=arch, verbose=args.verbose)
+                    self.virtme_param["kdir"] = "--kimg " + mainline.target
+                except FileNotFoundError as exc:
+                    sys.stderr.write(str(exc) + "\n")
+                    sys.exit(1)
+            else:
+                self.virtme_param["kdir"] = "--kimg " + args.run
         else:
             self.virtme_param["kdir"] = "--kdir ./"
 
diff --git a/virtme_ng/utils.py b/virtme_ng/utils.py
index 4e68339..97063b5 100644
--- a/virtme_ng/utils.py
+++ b/virtme_ng/utils.py
@@ -4,6 +4,20 @@
 """virtme-ng: configuration path."""
 
 from pathlib import Path
+from virtme_ng.spinner import Spinner
 
+CACHE_DIR = Path(Path.home(), ".cache", "virtme-ng")
 CONF_PATH = Path(Path.home(), ".config", "virtme-ng")
 CONF_FILE = Path(CONF_PATH, "virtme-ng.conf")
+
+
+def spinner_decorator(message):
+    def decorator(func):
+        def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
+            with Spinner(message=message):
+                result = func(*args, **kwargs)
+                return result
+
+        return wrapper
+
+    return decorator