diff --git a/node/podcontroller.go b/node/podcontroller.go
index 434df976d..ca788cb0f 100644
--- a/node/podcontroller.go
+++ b/node/podcontroller.go
@@ -173,11 +173,31 @@ func NewPodController(cfg PodControllerConfig) (*PodController, error) {
 		k8sQ:            workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter(), "syncPodsFromKubernetes"),
 	}
 
-	// Set up event handlers for when Pod resources change.
+	return pc, nil
+}
+
+// Run will set up the event handlers for types we are interested in, as well as syncing informer caches and starting workers.
+// It will block until the context is cancelled, at which point it will shutdown the work queue and wait for workers to finish processing their current work items.
+func (pc *PodController) Run(ctx context.Context, podSyncWorkers int) error {
+	defer pc.k8sQ.ShutDown()
+
+	podStatusQueue := workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter(), "syncPodStatusFromProvider")
+	pc.runSyncFromProvider(ctx, podStatusQueue)
+	defer podStatusQueue.ShutDown()
+
+	// Wait for the caches to be synced *before* starting to do work.
+	if ok := cache.WaitForCacheSync(ctx.Done(), pc.podsInformer.Informer().HasSynced); !ok {
+		return pkgerrors.New("failed to wait for caches to sync")
+	}
+	log.G(ctx).Info("Pod cache in-sync")
+
+	// Set up event handlers for when Pod resources change. Since the pod cache is in-sync, the informer will generate
+	// synthetic add events at this point. It again avoids the race condition of adding handlers while the cache is
+	// syncing.
 	pc.podsInformer.Informer().AddEventHandler(cache.ResourceEventHandlerFuncs{
 		AddFunc: func(pod interface{}) {
 			if key, err := cache.MetaNamespaceKeyFunc(pod); err != nil {
-				log.L.Error(err)
+				log.G(ctx).Error(err)
 			} else {
 				pc.k8sQ.AddRateLimited(key)
 			}
@@ -196,45 +216,27 @@ func NewPodController(cfg PodControllerConfig) (*PodController, error) {
 			}
 			// At this point we know that something in .metadata or .spec has changed, so we must proceed to sync the pod.
 			if key, err := cache.MetaNamespaceKeyFunc(newPod); err != nil {
-				log.L.Error(err)
+				log.G(ctx).Error(err)
 			} else {
 				pc.k8sQ.AddRateLimited(key)
 			}
 		},
 		DeleteFunc: func(pod interface{}) {
 			if key, err := cache.DeletionHandlingMetaNamespaceKeyFunc(pod); err != nil {
-				log.L.Error(err)
+				log.G(ctx).Error(err)
 			} else {
 				pc.k8sQ.AddRateLimited(key)
 			}
 		},
 	})
 
-	return pc, nil
-}
-
-// Run will set up the event handlers for types we are interested in, as well as syncing informer caches and starting workers.
-// It will block until the context is cancelled, at which point it will shutdown the work queue and wait for workers to finish processing their current work items.
-func (pc *PodController) Run(ctx context.Context, podSyncWorkers int) error {
-	defer pc.k8sQ.ShutDown()
-
-	podStatusQueue := workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter(), "syncPodStatusFromProvider")
-	pc.runSyncFromProvider(ctx, podStatusQueue)
-	pc.runProviderSyncWorkers(ctx, podStatusQueue, podSyncWorkers)
-	defer podStatusQueue.ShutDown()
-
-	// Wait for the caches to be synced *before* starting workers.
-	if ok := cache.WaitForCacheSync(ctx.Done(), pc.podsInformer.Informer().HasSynced); !ok {
-		return pkgerrors.New("failed to wait for caches to sync")
-	}
-	log.G(ctx).Info("Pod cache in-sync")
-
 	// Perform a reconciliation step that deletes any dangling pods from the provider.
 	// This happens only when the virtual-kubelet is starting, and operates on a "best-effort" basis.
 	// If by any reason the provider fails to delete a dangling pod, it will stay in the provider and deletion won't be retried.
 	pc.deleteDanglingPods(ctx, podSyncWorkers)
 
 	log.G(ctx).Info("starting workers")
+	pc.runProviderSyncWorkers(ctx, podStatusQueue, podSyncWorkers)
 	for id := 0; id < podSyncWorkers; id++ {
 		workerID := strconv.Itoa(id)
 		go wait.Until(func() {