MILAN — Lance Armstrong has told organizers that he will race in the Giro d'Italia.

The announcement posted on the Gazzetta dello Sport's Web site on Thursday removed doubts that the seven-time Tour de France champion would miss the race after having surgery on a broken right collarbone last month.

The Gazzetta said the American contacted organizers Thursday from Colorado, where is currently training.

The Giro runs May 9-31.

"The recovery has been going well and the plan is to be there," Armstrong's spokesman Mark Higgins wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

It will mark the first time Armstrong races in the Italian classic, considered cycling's second most important race after the Tour.

Race director Angelo Zomegnan was not immediately available for comment.

Armstrong returned to racing at the start of this year after three and a half years of retirement.

He fell during the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon in Spain on March 23 and had surgery two days later. A stainless steel plate and 12 screws were inserted into to stabilize the broken collarbone.

Armstrong is also planning to enter the Tour in July, although he has said he is worried French doping officials may ban him for allegedly violating protocols during a recent drug test.

The Giro was originally scheduled to pass through France briefly during the 10th stage, but organizers changed the route last week, citing problems with the high mountain roads and bad radio reception.

Celebrating the race's 100th anniversary, Giro organizers have prepared a special route this year passing through most of Italy's major cities. The three-week race begins with a team time trial along Venice's beach front and concludes with an individual race against the clock in Rome.