diff --git a/.changeset/fair-zebras-cheat.md b/.changeset/fair-zebras-cheat.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f05efd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fair-zebras-cheat.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@marko/vite": patch
+---
+
+Fix issue in dev mode where render blocking was lasting longer than necessary due to a deferred module script. The script is now marked as async.
diff --git a/src/render-assets-runtime.ts b/src/render-assets-runtime.ts
index bf62d11..f3525c0 100644
--- a/src/render-assets-runtime.ts
+++ b/src/render-assets-runtime.ts
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ function renderAssets(slot) {
         // To avoid FOUC we will hide the page until all of these modules are loaded.
         const { preload } = entry;
         if (preload) {
-          html += \`<script class=marko-vite-preload blocking=render type=module\${this.___viteInjectAttrs}>\`;
+          html += \`<script class=marko-vite-preload async blocking=render type=module\${this.___viteInjectAttrs}>\`;
           for (const id of preload) {
             html += \`import \${JSON.stringify(base + id)};\`;
           }