To be fair, network latency across all the providers is reasonably similar. The network throughput was not even close though, with GCP winning by a huge margin.
I'd say both statements are fair and not mutually exclusive.
One of the engineers who helped benchmark and compile the Cloud Report. You're right in noting that the statements aren't mutually exclusive. Our overall takeaway was informed by each Cloud's performance on the individual benchmarks as shown on page 4 of the report. The results were quite close though, as each of the Clouds had specific benchmarks they did excellent in.
I'd say both statements are fair and not mutually exclusive.