I think a lot of it depends on riding style. I used to be a spinner, but I had 172's then. I moved up to 175, since I'm a bigger guy with more power than finesse. I climb pretty well, but sometimes wonder what it would be like with 172's again.
To more directly answer your "is this correct?" question, I don't know. It stands to reason in terms of the gearing, and I suppose that gearing could offset any benefits one way or the other with regards to torque. It's been many moons since I thought much about physics, so someone that gets more about gear ratios will have to chime in.