diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 66c061e16e..fa1cf2bcb1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-## UNRELEASED
+## 1.6.0-rc1 (August 13, 2019)
 
 BREAKING CHANGES:
 
diff --git a/version/version.go b/version/version.go
index bf14a87a25..f883b03f24 100644
--- a/version/version.go
+++ b/version/version.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ var (
 	// A pre-release marker for the version. If this is "" (empty string)
 	// then it means that it is a final release. Otherwise, this is a pre-release
 	// such as "dev" (in development), "beta", "rc1", etc.
-	VersionPrerelease = "beta3"
+	VersionPrerelease = "rc1"
 )
 
 // GetHumanVersion composes the parts of the version in a way that's suitable