diff --git a/middleware/tracing.go b/middleware/tracing.go
index 9382e8a14e..663c52181f 100644
--- a/middleware/tracing.go
+++ b/middleware/tracing.go
@@ -14,10 +14,15 @@ func Trace(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
 		var span *trace.Span
 
 		tc := tracecontext.HTTPFormat{}
-		sc, ok := tc.SpanContextFromRequest(r)
-		if ok {
+		// reconstruct span context from request
+		if sc, ok := tc.SpanContextFromRequest(r); ok {
+			// if there is one, add it to the new span
 			ctx, span = trace.StartSpanWithRemoteParent(r.Context(), r.URL.String(), sc)
 			defer span.End()
+		} else {
+			// create a new span if there is no context
+			ctx, span = trace.StartSpan(r.Context(), r.URL.String())
+			defer span.End()
 		}
 
 		next.ServeHTTP(w, r.WithContext(ctx))