Careful: lack of middle hops in a traceroute isn't necessarily sign that there are no transit providers. Many times a carrier/enterprise may rent overlay (i.e.,

Careful: lack of middle hops in a traceroute isn't necessarily sign that there are no transit providers. Many times a carrier/enterprise may rent overlay (i.e., MPLS) transport capacity which won't appear in your traceroute. Although, in Google's specific case, you are probably right and this does not apply.