diff --git a/lib/urlapi.c b/lib/urlapi.c
index 65e5ef58d9..903fe1804e 100644
--- a/lib/urlapi.c
+++ b/lib/urlapi.c
@@ -1348,7 +1348,8 @@ CURLUcode curl_url_set(CURLU *u, CURLUPart what,
   default:
     return CURLUE_UNKNOWN_PART;
   }
-  if(storep) {
+  DEBUGASSERT(storep);
+  {
     const char *newp = part;
     size_t nalloc = strlen(part);